Deviant Love
by Attanea
Summary: Kiba is aware of his sexuality yet he knows that his crushes are always one-sided. But when Kankurou visits and stirs up old feelings, Kiba becomes determined to see this one through. All that stands in his way is Kankurou's hard-headed stubbornness.
1. Unnerved Acceptance

For my friends Monica and Stephy, who were always enthusiastic as I wrote this and a constant cure for my writer's blocks. xo

KankurouxKiba Fic

Kiba has always been aware of his sexuality, albeit self-conscious about it. He's come to terms with the fact that his crushes will always be one-sided. But when Kankurou makes an appearance in Konoha and stirs up old feelings, Kiba becomes determined to see this one through. All that stands in his way is Kankurou's hard-headed stubbornness.

**

* * *

KIBA - Monday  
**

**1 – Unnerved Acceptance**

_Unnerved – deprived of courage and strength  
Acceptance – the mental attitude that something is believable and should be accepted as true_

I have known ever since I can remember.

First it had been Shikamaru. Shikamaru, with his lazy slouch and bored look; it was so alluring. And we understood each other in our need to skip class. Class work and home work was boring. It might have been Chouji instead, but Chouji cared too much about food. It might have been Naruto, but there was something about Naruto that caused everyone to keep him at a distance. So it had been Shikamaru.

But I never bothered saying anything.

Next it was Shino. When Team 8 had been formed, we spent so much time together that I had started to admire Shino's calm and mysterious exterior. The mysterious part only made him more appealing. It only made him more _intriguing_.

But is also made him more ominous, and so I never bothered saying anything.

And then, the same person that everyone had kept at a distance became somewhat popular and no one cared anymore for whatever was different about him. I still don't know what it was. Though I've heard rumors; and they terrify me. But I think that's what did it – how terrifying it all seemed. I loved the thrill. And the way he was always so determined to be what he wanted to be caused admiration on my part. But I was able to hide that for a bit because Hinata admired him enough for the both of us.

Seeing Hinata crush Naruto and Naruto crush Sakura made me feel guilty and sometimes dirty for the way I felt. And so I started to act like I hated Naruto to hide it. I always competed with him and tried to make him angry to make sure no one ever new my secret.

And then that day came. I was holding Akamaru with a self-inflicted wound in my side and I was facing death. I had merely laughed at the circumstances which had made my opponent angry, and he had come at me with his kunai. I closed my eyes and waited for the pain, but it didn't come. Instead I heard a thud and creaking joints. I opened my eyes to see a familiar ninja puppet between me and my attacker, and I smirked as I remembered the Chuunin exams and how funny I thought the puppeteer had looked.

He hadn't changed a bit.

He took care of the weird twins that had almost killed me, and practically carried me back to Konoha as I began to loose consciousness from loss of blood. His strong and powerful muscles that I could feel around me felt right. But that feeling had been different from anything else I had ever felt for someone before.

And so I shrugged it off.

While I was in the hospital, all bandaged up, I was relieved when Hana said Akamaru was alright, but after she had left the room my mind went elsewhere. I kept thinking back to the puppeteer and eventually decided that it wasn't the same way I felt for Naruto.

And so I believed it was nothing.

I saw the puppeteer the day I left the hospital. I didn't recognize him at first because he had no hood or face paint. But his voice was unmistakable; that deep, yet smooth, masculine voice. He had asked me how I was doing. I had said as good as new and I thanked him briefly before continuing on my way. It had taken everything not to walk closer to him, and then everything to not run away afterwards.

I sure as hell didn't think he looked funny anymore.

But then he left with his two siblings and I didn't see him for a long time. And my feelings for Naruto continued, and I continued to compete with him on every mission and got frustrated with Hinata for liking him so much. Hinata didn't understand why, Kurenai-sensei got the wrong idea, but Shino said nothing.

I think he knew.

Finally the day came for the mission where we would return the favor to the sand shinobi. I was paired up with Chouji and we were to help – go figure – the puppeteer. He seemed angry that we had come, naturally, saying he could handle it himself. While Chouji and I tried to help, we kept getting in each others way. We both blamed and yelled at each other. In truth though, I knew it was mostly my fault because I was so distracted by the puppeteer's body language and the sweat running down his brow.

Eventually I pulled myself together and he and I actually made a rather good team. And afterwards when we caught up with his brother, I had to admit I felt rather guilty as I ignored the 'heart-warming' situation while I was distracted by my own thoughts. I couldn't quite figure out why the puppeteer gave me such a different feeling than Naruto and the others did.

And then the time came when Naruto left the village. I was sad to see him go, though I hid it well. It's been two years since that day. And it only took four months of that time to get over him.

But today _he_ was coming back to the village, in the company of one another. And unlike with Naruto, my thoughts for this one had never dissipated. The way he walked and stood so arrogantly was still clear in my mind. The memory of the way he talked and sneered was so fresh in my memory it was like it was yesterday. And the way he smelt – I could smell it.

And it was getting closer.

I waited on a nearby rooftop with Akamaru where I could clearly see the gates of Konoha and the road beyond. The sky was a soft gray and the sun hadn't properly risen yet. The town was quiet and empty at this early hour, but my presence had been requested. I would be meeting them with Shikamaru due to the bonds we had created in our past – Tsunade had thought it was best. I had come early, and so waited on the roofs.

Shikamaru was late.

When Shikamaru finally arrived, the smell was even stronger and I knew it would only be about five more minutes. I had retreated to the moist ground with Akamaru and crouched beside Shikamaru as he leaned against the frame of the open gates. He slouched lazily and as I scratched behind Akamaru's ear I couldn't help but notice how attractive he had become, which was emphasized by his maturity over the other classmates of our year.

That was only one of the usual thoughts that passed my mind whenever I checked someone out. No one ever noticed when I did this because they thought I was just smirking at them in spite. Shikamaru didn't notice because his eyes were closed. But I didn't care about any of that right now because the familiar smell of sand, sweat and cedar was filling my nose.

I stood up and looked down the road and saw Temari approaching alongside her brother. She walked with a slight sway to her hips and but I hardly spared her a glance. No, I was drawn to the one walking beside her – the strong and masculine gait of the one beside her – and the smell of the one beside her.

I was drawn to Kankurou.

"Shikamaru," I said casually. "They're here."

Shikamaru opened a lazy eye to look at me and then stood up straight to look down the road. Sure enough, his eyes fell over Temari, noticing her strut right away, even though he tried to hide it with a yawn. I stood as casually as I could while we waited for them to reach the gates.

"Oh, look," Temari smirked and came to a standstill with her hands on her hips. "They've sent us the crybaby and the mutt."

Shikamaru sighed but said nothing.

"Watch who you're calling mutt!" I shot at her, trying to keep my eyes from straying over Kankurou.

"Heh," Kankurou sneered. "Is that any way to treat your honored guests, dog-boy?"

I turned to glare at him. The sound of his voice was as captivating as I remembered it. Though he was wearing his hood and face paint, I remembered the scruffy brown hair and strong features beneath. I felt a small blush creeping up my cheeks but was saved by Shikamaru.

"Let's not start a fight before we even get into the village," he sighed. "It's troublesome enough that we have to escort them to the Hokage's office." He turned and started walking away with his hands in his pockets. He called back over his shoulder. "Come on, Kiba. Let's get this over with."

We followed after him as Temari scoffed, Kankurou growled and I smirked and pocketed my own hands to keep myself in check.

I walked behind Kankurou and Temari with Shikamaru in the lead and Akamaru at my heels. It was taking a lot of restraint to not reach up and pull off Kankurou's hood. He was so much sexier when you could see his hair. I sighed longingly from behind everyone but they took no notice. They probably thought I was tired.

It was almost noon and my stomach was starting to growl. As much as I wanted to hurry up and get this over with to go and meet Chouji and Shino for lunch, I wanted to enjoy my little time with Kankurou.

The sky was starting to darken as heavy clouds drew overhead. I sniffed the air to gouge how long it would be before it started to rain – barely half an hour. Akamaru whined beside me as he noticed the change of smell in the air as well. I crouched down beside him and ruffled his ears; he had become too big to sit on my head or in my coat anymore.

"It's okay, boy," I said. "You go on home." I knew he didn't feel like getting rained on right so early in the morning. He barked at me cheerfully before running off in the direction of our house. I stood back up to realize I had been left behind. Well, sort of. I could see Temari talking with Shikamaru up ahead now, and when I looked around I saw Kankurou standing beside me.

"Let's go, dog-boy," he said, strolling ahead of me.

"Hey!" I protested, catching up. "Would you quit calling me dog-boy? You're almost worse than Naruto."

"_Don't_ compare me to that annoying, little brat," Kankurou huffed.

"Then quit calling me 'dog-boy."

"Fine, whatever," Kankurou scoffed before quickening his pace. "Mutt," he muttered under his breath. I tensed up; clearly he'd forgotten I had an acute sense of hearing. Or maybe not.

"I said quit it!"

"Che," he smirked when I came into stride beside him again. "You said dog-boy, not mutt."

"It's the same thing!"

"No, it's not," he said matter-of-factly. "So if I can't use one then I'm going to use the other."

"How about you use neither?" _Why did I like this guy again?_

He turned his head towards me and flashed his teeth in a playful grin. He threw his arm out around my shoulders and let his hand hang loosely down my chest in the way straight guys did to each other when they were boasting or something like that. "Too bad, mutt" he smirked, and then he let me go with a shove and continued towards the Hokage's tower. My heart pounded at the close proximity I had just experienced and my face heated up in betrayal. I decided watching the ground as I walked was a good idea.

_Oh yeah,_ I thought._ That's why._

_

* * *

_

The way to the Hokage's office and the discussion within was dull and I was hardly a part of it so I blanked out. Shikamaru seemed to be doing the same.

Tsunade was talking with Kankurou and Temari about the documents they had brought and about their mission, and then went on to tell them where they're living quarters would be. She gave them the address and told them how to get there, but Shikamaru and I still had to escort them.

I didn't mind. Obviously Shikamaru found it troublesome, but to me it seemed more like he was acting that way because he felt he was supposed to. On the way back down the outside staircase, Kankurou bumped into me when he passed and our hands brushed ever so slightly. A mental shiver bolted through my mind and I looked at him. He gave me a sly grin. He hadn't noticed our hands like I had; he was only responding to bumping into me.

I made an effort not to sigh and shoved him slightly with my shoulder, smirking at him as I passed. I heard him growl and the next thing I knew I was tumbling down the stairs, tangled up in Kankurou. When we rolled into the dirt of the road below, he tackled me again in mid roll and pinned me to the ground. He sat on me with his hands holding mine to the ground. I managed to get them free, but he only grabbed onto them again. The fact that his weight was pressing on top of me and that he had a triumphant smile on his face wasn't helping.

This was all a game to him – and he was winning. I couldn't bring myself to use the energy needed to get him off of me, and I can tell you that I was _not_ incapable of doing so. I could feel his warm breath on my face, not because he was particularly close, but because he was breathing so heavily. When I was no longer making a move to fight back, he leaned in closer with an even cockier grin than before.

"Heh, give up?" he jived into my ear. I growled at him but remained motionless. He sat back and just as I was sure he would feel the effect his close proximity was having on me _down there_, he stood up and offered me a hand. I smirked at him and went to take it, but he pulled it back with a small laugh and walked away. I growled low in my throat and pushed myself off of the ground in time to see Shikamaru and Temari reach the road. Temari was smirking at me and Shikamaru looked bored.

I ignored both of them and headed down the street after Kankurou. "You don't even know where you're going!" I yelled to him.

"I'll figure it out," he called back over his shoulder. I rolled my eyes and jogged to catch up.

"You play dirty," I said.

"Just because you're so weak…" he trailed off and I attacked him with yet another growl, but he had been expecting it, and I once again found his weight crushing down on top of me.

"Can't you two at least let us get settled in before you start brawling all over Konoha?" Temari called to us.

"Heh," Kankurou slid off me and stood once again, and offered me another hand. I looked at it skeptically and started to get up myself, but having him standing over top of me was making it difficult. He continued to hold his hand out so I finally rolled my eyes and made a grab for it. This time he let me grasp his hand and he pulled me to my feet. I dusted myself off and we headed down the road again in the direction of their temporary home.

It wasn't long before I could see it in the distance. As we neared it, I noticed a change in the air and Kankurou gave me a sideways glance when I started to sniff it. I ignored him and sighed, then took off into a run, heading for the protection of the awning hanging out over the street at our destination.

"Hey, mutt! Where do you think you're going?" Kankurou called after me. If he can't even call me by my name, I'm not going to warn him. Besides, I knew there was no point explaining as I reached the apartment, because there wouldn't be enough time. Just as I stumbled underneath, as if on cue, the rain fell – hard. I smirked at a grumbling Kankurou as he broke into a jog and came up beside me.

"Why didn't you warn me?" he growled. His face paint had become streaks on his face, no longer obscuring his features. I was about to answer when he took of his hood and wrung it out, and I was suddenly twice as glad I hadn't told him it was about to rain.

I gathered myself quickly, before he noticed I had stalled my words and shrugged.

"Payback."

"For what? Being stronger than you?" he said, half out of irritation and the other half teasing.

"No, for not using my name," was my quick reply. As I was beginning to wonder where Shikamaru and Temari were, I saw them coming around the corner, Temari holding an umbrella over both of them. Kankurou grew annoyed again at the sight.

"Che. You expect too much," he said, unfortunately putting his hood back on. "I only use names when I actually care for a person."

"You mean you're capable?" I asked in mock shock.

"Capable of what?" he growled.

"Of caring."

"Heh, there's more to me than you think," was all he said before adding, "Mutt," and turning to his sister in annoyance. "Since when do you carry an umbrella?"

"Unlike you," she said with a sigh, stepping under the awning and closing the umbrella, "I come prepared." Shikamaru stepped around her and pushed the door to their apartment open.

"You guys coming?" he asked. "Or are you just going to stand there and bicker?"

* * *

Tsunade had picked out a luxurious apartment for Temari and Kankurou. Their lodgings were on the third floor of three, eliminating the possibility of noises coming from upstairs, and it also had a good view from the balcony on the west side.

By the Hokage's orders, Shikamaru and I escorted Kankurou and Temari all the way to their floor and showed them to their room, even though Temari seemed to know exactly where to go. She took out the key Tsunade had given her and unlocked the door, walking in and holding it open for Kankurou. She disappeared inside as she went to find her bedroom. Kankurou waited at the door, holding it open by leaning against it.

"I'd invite you in," he began with a smirk, "But I don't want the place to smell like dog."

I growled at him and tried to think of a good retort, but was saved from the necessity when Temari came back into view. As she took a hold of the door, Kankurou took his turn to slip inside and disappear.

"So," she said, more to Shikamaru. "Where are you headed off to?"

"We're meeting up with the guys at the Korean Barbeque restaurant," he sighed as if it was just another troublesome thing in his daily routine. Temari watched him expectantly and I felt an awkward silence approaching.

"What?" Shikamaru asked, completely oblivious.

"Well aren't you going to invite us?" she said bluntly, yet as if it was the most obvious thing in the entire world. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at her forwardness. "We're guests to the village, after all. Not to mention we've just had a long trip and are probably hungry."

Shikamaru looked like he was about to give a smart retort to rub Temari the wrong way, and I continued to stand to the side as an observer. I wasn't about to argue with the kunoichi, and I obviously liked the idea of Kankurou tagging along.

"Temari," Kankurou drawled, coming back into view, with his rain-ruined face paint now washed off and his hood once again removed. "We can go out later. I'm not really hungry right now, anyway." Temari looked at him quizzically and then, right on cue, Kankurou's stomach let out a loud growl.

"Hmph," she said, crossing her arms impatiently. "Yeah. Right. You just want time to put your makeup back on."

"It's not makeup!" he hissed. "It's war paint."

"If you want to come along, I don't care," Shikamaru interrupted with a yawn, before muttering, "Too troublesome to argue." He glanced from Kankurou to Temari. "But I'm not waiting." He started to walk away lazily in the direction of the staircase.

"You guys coming?" I asked, turning to follow him.

"Sure, whatever," was Kankurou's response, and Temari's response was her quickly disappearing into her apartment and reappearing just as quickly, somehow with four umbrellas, and stuffing a small pouch into her obi.

"Let's go," she said, pushing past us, handing us each an umbrella, and following after Shikamaru.

* * *

"Oh, you guys brought them?" was the first thing out of Chouji's mouth when we neared their booth in the restaurant.

Shikamaru didn't answer as he slid in beside Chouji. I sat down across from them and slid up against the wall to be across from Shino. Kankurou slid in next to me, and then Temari removed her fan and slid in after him. She caused Kankurou to have to move farther in, and I was instantly aware of his leg pushed up against mine.

"There's no way you need that much room," Kankurou growled at Temari.

"A girl needs her space," was her only response, and so Kankurou huffed and rested his head in his hand and his elbow on the table, effectively shunning her and facing my direction at the same time.

"Can I take your order?" a waitress asked cheerfully. I asked for my usual, as did Shikamaru. Chouji and Shino had already ordered, and so Kankurou asked for what Chouji had and Temari asked for a salad.

Chouji started up a conversation with Shikamaru and Temari listened in out of boredom. Shino said nothing and remained mysterious behind his dark sunglasses, even though it was raining outside the window. We had never actually talked about it, but there was an unspoken understanding we had. He had figured out that I wasn't into girls, and I knew he knew, but we never talked about it. I'm sure he already had his suspicions of how I felt towards Kankurou. As he sat across from me, seemingly observing his surroundings as he so often did, he was probably aware of the effect Kankurou was having on me at that moment.

I put my hands on my knees, and rubbed the top of my legs to distract myself, and adjusted my pants by pulling them away from my body in attempt to make sure a certain growing bulge wasn't noticeable. In my efforts, I only pushed my leg against Kankurou's more and ended up brushing my fingers against him.

He looked at me quizzically for my fidgety behaviour, but didn't seem to notice the extra contact. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I said, unintentionally making it sound like I didn't want to discuss the topic further – which I didn't.

He gave me one more look over before turning around to Temari and starting up a conversation about what they were going to do later on.

I took in a long, steadying breath as I shut out the world around me. Kankurou was really getting to me and I couldn't even explain how. It was completely different to anyone else I'd ever crushed on. And the worst part was, even though it had always been this way, Kankurou was completely oblivious as to what he was doing to me. Our conversations were just a chance for him to tease or overpower me. And these current touches between us did nothing to stir his blood the way it stirred mine.

* * *

_Next update before the New Year! :)_


	2. Unknown Denial

**KANKUROU - Monday**

**2 – Unknown Denial**

_Unknown – not known before_

_Denial – renunciation of the truth_

Kiba was close, and I knew it. Too close. His leg was right up against mine and he seemed to be squished between me and the wall. Temari was being invasive and I was doing my best to give her space, but as a result, foreign warmth was soaking through my left leg. Kiba seemed uncomfortable at the closeness, and I didn't want to give him the wrong idea. He shifted a few times and so I asked him what was wrong, but he had dismissed the topic quickly enough to stop me from enquiring. He probably didn't want to say anything to me about how it seemed I was suggesting something. And neither did I. That would be too awkward.

He had stopped fidgeting, and now had a spaced out look dominating his face. I didn't understand why, but I preferred it when he was fidgety. It seemed to have to do with the fact that he pushed his leg farther up against mine and he had even brushed his fingers over my leg at one point, sending that foreign warmth straight to my groin. I had hid it well, but it had scared the hell out of me. I thought I knew what was happening to me, but it didn't make sense. I couldn't be attracted to Kiba, could I? I stole a glance at him and decided I wasn't ready for the answer to that question.

I quickly turned to Temari to start a conversation about what we could do with the rest of the day, since the Hokage didn't need us at the moment. I tried to listen as she came up with suggestions and plans, but ended up agreeing to her without really knowing what I was agreeing to. I was too distracted by a certain leg pushed up against my own.

I was relieved when I saw our food order had arrived. Eating would help distract me. I threw my meat strips onto the already hot barbeque in front of me and flinched slightly when it started sizzling and a splash burnt into my wrist. I was sure to put my meat on my side of the grill, keeping a wary eye on Chouji sitting across from me.

"So," Kiba inquired beside me. "What are you guys doing here anyway?"

"You mean you weren't told?" Temari asked, leaning around me to look at Kiba.

"No, should I have been?"

"It's just boring, political stuff," Shikamaru drawled. "Nothing important."

"Nothing important?" Temari shot at him. "It's the difference between a collapse in power and our survival!"

"Alright, woman," he said, sticking a finger in his ear as if Temari had just yelled. "So maybe it is important."

Temari let out an exasperated huff. "Well I don't expect a lazy ass like you to understand."

Shikamaru said nothing and it looked like he was keeping his mouth shut in hopes that Temari would shut hers as well – good choice.

"So what _are_ you here for?" Kiba asked quietly in my ear. I thanked what ever god there was that I hadn't jumped when his voice came inches from my face.

I gathered myself quickly and answered him with a smirk. "Boring, political stuff," I muttered without turning to him.

"Hmph," he frowned at me and turned back to his food. "Whatever you say."

I sighed. "It's not as important as Temari makes it sound," I muttered to him out of the side of my mouth. "We've just decided on our next Kazekage and need to meet with Tsunade so we can sign a new treaty to make their loyalty to each other official."

"The next Kazekage?" Kiba spluttered. "You don't think that's important?"

"It's not that it's not important to him," Temari said, once again leaning around me to look at Kiba. "Kankurou just can't get over the fact that his younger brother was chosen over him."

"Gaara?" Both Kiba and Chouji said this at the same time, Chouji nearly chocking on his food. Shino didn't say anything, but his head turned and he seemed more interested.

"But isn't he…?" Kiba started to say automatically, but thought better of it.

"Unstable?" I finished for him.

"Kankurou!" Temari shot at me, giving me one of her death glares.

"What?" I asked, shrugging my shoulders innocently. When she continued to glare at me, my shoulders slumped and I resigned. "Okay, so he's not unstable. In fact, I think he's the perfect choice for the next Kazekage."

Temari looked at me skeptically and finally turned back to Shikamaru to continue the conversation with him.

"But he used to be unstable," I muttered defiantly to myself. I heard Kiba snicker at my comment.

"So," he said. "Where are you guys going after this?"

"Huh?" I turned to him. "Oh. I don't know. Wherever Temari decides."

"Do you always do what she tells you to do?" he asked a bit teasingly.

"Shut up, mutt," I growled. "It's not like there's anything better to do. Besides, you don't know what it's like having an older sister."

"Actually, I do," he said, popping some food into his mouth. He chewed and swallowed it before continuing. "In fact, I would say arguing with Hana is about as bad of an idea as arguing with Temari."

"I doubt it. You don't know Temari."

"You don't know Hana."

"Since when do you have an older sister anyway?" I asked, trying to recall whenever I might have seen her.

"Since I was born, you idiot. She's the one that took care of Akamaru after the fight with Sakon and Ukon a few years ago."

I thought about it for a minute, and was momentarily distracted by the memory of carrying Kiba back to the village. I then remembered the woman who had been one of the medics to greet us when they came to get Kiba from me. She had two red fang tattoos on her cheeks as well. "Oh, I remember."

He smirked. "Thought so." He said it as if I might be interested in her.

"Anyway, this weather really just makes me want to stay inside and do nothing," I said, nodding to the ever growing rainstorm outside. As if on cue, there was a flash of light, followed by rolling thunder.

"I'm sure we can dig out some board game back at the apartment," Temari sighed, suddenly back into my conversation. Shikamaru had turned to talk with Chouji, but instantly perked up at the mention of board games.

"Board games?" I twisted my face in disgust. "That's your idea of fun?"

"Do you play shougi?" Shikamaru asked, abandoning Chouji and turning back to my sister.

"Heh," she answered with a smirk. "I'm one of the best at shougi."

"Really?" Shikamaru said, raising an eyebrow. "I bet you're not that good," he finished as if the prospect was boring.

"You want to find out?" she asked mischievously. Clearly she was confident with her skills. Then again, this was Shikamaru she was challenging.

He looked at her quizzically for a moment before turning away and letting out a breath. "Beats doing any sort of work."

"I could have guessed you'd say that," she said, pushing her finished plate further onto the table. "Let's go."

"Now?" he asked, almost whined, looking up at her regrettably.

"Well, we're finished eating. There's no point staying here." She waved her hand to our waiter and asked for the bill. It was just like her to be so pushy.

I became aware of Kiba talking to Shino in a quite voice. He seemed to be trying to get out of something and Shino wasn't buying it.

"But it's raining and Akamaru's not with me," he said. "We can train some other time."

"Does this have anything to do with the fact that you'd end up smelling like wet dog?" I asked with a smirk.

I thought I heard Shino mutter "I doubt it," but when I looked at him he seemed like he wasn't even paying attention. Kiba growled at him anyway and then turned to scowl at me.

"His name is Akamaru."

"So I was right?"

"That's part of it," Kiba muttered, twisting his fork around his food.

"There's more?" I asked, raising my eyebrows and looking to Shino for an answer.

Without any sign of movement, Shino responded. "The rain," was all he said, and it was said with no emphasis. Kiba looked at him sharply.

"The rain?" I asked, looking back and forth between them. "What? You don't like the rain?"

"I don't have a problem with the rain," Kiba said, turning sharply to me this time.

"Then what is it?"

Kiba hesitated. "Okay, so it is the rain."

I didn't trust his hesitation and wanted to say 'you're lying' but decided there was no point and that in the end it didn't even matter.

"Actually," Shino said, more to Kiba than to me. "I think my father wanted my help with something this afternoon. So it's better if we skip the training."

"See?" Kiba grinned playfully. "It works out better all around."

A server arrived with the bill, which drew our attention, but Temari was the one to snatch it off the table first. Her eyes widened slightly before shoving it in Shikamaru's direction.

"You pay."

"Why me?" he spluttered, reluctant to take the bill.

"Because you invited us to lunch, they're your friends and that bill is ridiculous," Temari stated, waving the bill until Shikamaru took it and glared at her. He checked the price, threw Chouji a look of murder and then sighed.

"Whatever. Too troublesome to argue anyway," he shrugged, and walked away towards the cash register, reaching lazily into his back pocket to retrieve his wallet. Temari strapped her fan to her back and picked up her umbrella before following after him.

"You guys ready to go then?" Kiba asked, more to Shino and Chouji than to me.

"Sure," Chouji said, squeezing out, shortly followed by Shino.

"Uhm…" Kiba made a hesitant noise toward me, indicating that I was still pinning him in. His efforts to get me to move only brought him further up against me. I was tempted to stay where I was but quickly shook off the thought and slid out myself.

I left the three of them behind me and walked passed Temari, who was waiting for Shikamaru at the cash register.

"I'll see you at home?" she asked as I passed.

I grunted in acknowledgement and pushed on the door leading out into the pouring sky. I opened my umbrella just as I stepped outside and instantly felt the pull of the wind trying to pull it out of shape. I grumbled at the weather and headed in the direction of our apartment.

"Kankurou!" I heard my name called from behind me, and turned around in time for a heavy gust of wind to reach under my umbrella and blow it inside out. I growled and let it go. What was a ninja doing with an umbrella anyway?

I looked up in time to see Kiba jogging over. "Good job, Alphonso," Kiba said smugly.

"Good job—_what_?" I spluttered. "And it's your fault, so don't give me that. Besides, I don't need an umbrella." When I said this, Kiba reached me and held his own umbrella over both are heads. I looked at it suspiciously and back at Kiba.

"If you don't need one, then why are you so angry?" he jived at me flashing a toothy grin.

"What do you want, mutt?" I growled.

"Temari said you didn't have a set of keys," he said, lifting a finger to reveal a key ring. "She asked me to run them over to you."

I looked over his shoulder down the road and could just make out a blurry image of Temari walking the opposite way with a slouching Shikamaru. "Figures," I muttered.

"Huh?"

"Never mind," I snapped, snatching the keys from him. "Thanks."

I turned to walked away, but it wasn't long before I stopped again, noticing the lack of rain on my head. I turned to the side to face Kiba.

"What?" I asked as I tried to figure out if I'd forgotten something else.

"What?" was his idiotic response.

"Do you need something?"

"No," he said innocently. "Your umbrella is busted and you're a guest to the village so I can't go home in good conscience if I let you walk home in the rain."

"Well," I smirked mischievously, tugging on the umbrella handle. "I feel absolutely no guilt in letting _you_ walk home in the rain, so you're welcome to just give me your umbrella."

"Ha!" he cried triumphantly. "I knew you wanted an umbrella!"

"Well at least I'm prepared to train in the rain," I scoffed at him as I let go and resumed walking. He followed after me, keeping the umbrella above our heads.

"It's not that I don't like training in the rain," Kiba said conversationally. "It's just that Shino has these horrible bugs that use the sound of rain to locate their victim by detecting changes in the rains pattern." He shivered. "I really don't like them."

"You didn't want to train with bug-boy because of the bugs he uses?" I asked as if trying to figure something out. "Does he know that?"

"No!" he blurted out a little too quickly. "I mean, it's only recently that I've started to hate training with Shino while it rains. Being the time of year when it likes to rain."

"Right," I said, dropping the subject. After a moment of thought and decision making, I decided on continuing our little blurb. "I don't like training with Gaara – in _any_ weather."

He laughed. "Training with Gaara? Is that possible? How are you supposed to train with someone that's impossible to win against?"

"That's exactly why I don't like training with him. It's bad enough with Temari. It's next to impossible to get one of my puppets near her without her blowing it away. And on top of that the only way she can get me out of hiding is with a lethal attack and she's not about to pull one of those on me. And I'm not exactly about to actually hit her with one of my poisoned blades. The poison sets in too fast and it usually takes too long to get the antidote ready and then to reach the victim in time – since I fight long range. So it usually ends in a draw because neither of us can get close enough to the other without actually killing them. I hate draws."

Kiba stared at me.

"What?"

"I've never heard you say so much about yourself in one sentence. And without insulting anyone either," he answered slyly.

"Shut up, mutt," I smirked, despite myself.

"You know, I really don't like being called 'mutt' every other time you let something out of you mouth," he frowned.

"Then why are you still around me?"

"I'm waiting for you to call me 'Kiba.'"

"Heh, then you'll be waiting a _long_ time," I said, reaching the apartment and tugging open the front door. Kiba followed in after me, closing the umbrella as he came. "I already told you," I went on, reaching the elevator. "I only use names for the important people in my life."

"You know, I could refuse to call you by your name," he said, stepping into the elevator beside me before the doors closed. "There are many other terms that run through my head when I hear your name; like puppet-freak, makeup-man, doll-boy… But I'm not so pathetic."

"Oh, how cute," I chuckled sarcastically. "The little dog knows how to bite." The beep sounded and the elevator doors opened onto my floor. "Speaking of which, you just followed me home like a puppy," I added just as we both came up to my door. His mouth fell open in horror.

"I… You… Ugh, you are so impossible!" he huffed. "I just _walked you home_ in the _pouring rain_ because _you_ didn't have an umbrella, and yet I can tell that you're very grateful."

"Well I never asked you to," I scoffed. "And whose fault was it that my umbrella broke?" I could tell that his anger was beginning to boil, but pretended I didn't notice as I unlocked the door. "Chill mutt. Just come in and dry off."

I stepped in, looked around and sighed. Looking back behind me, Kiba was still standing in the doorway. Despite the umbrella, the wind had still managed to soak his pants and his hair was soaked from that short moment that I had tugged on the umbrella. He hesitated a moment.

"Aren't you afraid the place is going to smell like dog?" he fired at me.

"Too late now," I shrugged, kicking off my shoes. "I probably already smell like dog myself." Kiba glared at me a moment and then reluctantly took a step inside.

I walked further into the apartment, ripping of my sopping wet shirt and tossing it to the side. I heard the door shut as I turned a corner, shortly followed by the sound of shoes being left on the mat and footsteps following after me. Just as Kiba turned the corner I chucked a towel at him, which he caught diligently at his face. There was a growl and a mutter of thanks as he dried off his hair and I proceeded to do the same, walking back passed him and to my room.

"So… how long are you staying here for anyway?" Kiba asked, following me into my room.

"Hey, don't just come in here!" I freaked at him, quickly shoving him out.

"Sor—" Kiba started to apologize but when I started to shove him his face turned into a snarl. "Whoa, what's the big deal?"

"It's called personal space, mutt," I practically spat, standing in my bedroom doorway with my hands on my hips. "Something you clearly know nothing about."

"Oh, so now you want to talk about personal space?" Kiba bit back, the towel draped over his head and his hands on his own hips. "And just who was it that had me practically squished against the wall at the restaurant?"

"Che," I took a step towards him, our faces inches apart, and glared. "Don't even try to use that. We both know Temari was the one who wouldn't give _me_ any space."

Kiba glared back and said nothing. I could tell that he looked a bit uncomfortable and that's when I realized just how close we were standing. I felt the temperature in my chest rise as my heart gave one, distinct thud. Before I even had a chance to think about what was happening to me, Kiba took a fast step backwards and tripped over the edge of the couch, falling over the arm and then onto the floor. Good job mutt. Way to make it awkward.

I chuckled and reached a hand out to help him up. "Good job, mutt," I teased. "You okay?" He looked at my offered hand skeptically and I could tell he thought I was going to pull away if he made a grab for it. I sighed and sat down on the floor next to him, steeling a glance at him to see him staring up at the ceiling as if he was calming down. If I didn't know any better, I'd say his cheeks were flushed, though it wasn't too surprising since he just fell on his ass.

I caught myself staring at him and instantly looked away. My middle felt like it was defying gravity and I realized with dismay that I was probably coming down with something. Kiba let out a groan as he sat up and then turned to look at me.

"What were you saying about personal space?" he half growled.

"I can't help it if you have horrible balance," I grinned at him and got up, heading back to the kitchen.

"Whatever you say puppet freak," I heard him mutter behind me and I could hear the smirk in his voice.

"You want some food?" I asked over my shoulder, pretending I hadn't heard a thing.

"But we just ate," he said, coming up behind me.

"Yeah, well I'm hungry again," I pouted. "But I don't have any bones anyway." I heard him move before he tackled me and I was ready for it. Just like before and always, I had him pinned beneath me in seconds.

"Well frankly I can't say I'm surprised that you're made of only wood," Kiba retorted, hardly struggling at all. "It explains your apparent stupidity."

I stared at him. "Did you just…" Yep. He just used my own comment against me.

"Maybe instead of 'puppet freak' I should just call you a 'dummy'." Kiba continued to smirk at me, clearly proud of himself for his puppet pun, and that infuriating grin was distracting me from finding a comeback.

"Che, whatever you say." I was just about to get up when I felt him struggle and try to throw a fist at me. I caught it and overpowered him again, pinning both him and his hands back down while practically straddling him. Why was it always so easy? And why did Kiba look so flustered? Now seemed like a good time to get a reaction out of him. I started to lean in close with an evil smirk and I saw an instant change in his face from embarrassment to disbelief.

It was just way too easy.

My heart gave off another distinct thud and I stopped in my tracks. I had intended to freak him out as a joke, but now it was like my own joke was turning on me. Damn.

* * *

_Merry Christmas! :)_


	3. Impossible Temptation

**KIBA - Monday**

**3 – Impossible Temptation**

_Impossible – something that cannot be done_

_Temptation – the desire to act or do something that you know you should avoid_

Okay, so first I had walked Kankurou home, _like a puppy_ as he so eloquently put it, and then he actually invited me in to get dry. And now he had peaked my curiosity because he wouldn't let me into his room. And what was worse? He was shirtless with his hair an unruly mess. Damn, Kankurou.

Who knew he had all that muscle under his baggy shirt?

So I was already struggling to not stare and sound like an idiot, but I had fallen into his trap and attacked without thinking. Now I was pinned underneath him like always, only now he was shirtless and we were truly, fully alone.

Damn, Kankurou.

I could hardly contain my embarrassment and shock once he had started to lean in with that suggestive look on his face. I felt my eyes open wide and my ears heat up. I could feel his shallow breathing now and at this rate I'd be feeling the source of his breath at any moment.

Just as my face was reaching the hottest temperature it had ever been, Kankurou's face changed to a look of confusion and he suddenly sat up.

"You're so pathetic, mutt," he muttered, getting off of me.

I glared at him, feeling the anger from my embarrassment rising. I gritted my teeth and was tempted to knee him in the groin. Instead, I jumped to my feet and shoved him back, pinning him down. His face switched to surprise in an instant and he just looked up at me.

"Who's pathetic now, dummy?"

"Che," Kankurou huffed. "If you wanted me so bad why didn't you say something?"

At first I was at a loss for words and just stared at the expression on his face. If I had gone by just that, he might have convinced me, but I could smell it: he was making fun of me.

"Don't flatter yourself," I huffed as I got up off of him. My heart was racing and it angered me that someone with such a huge ego had that kind of affect on me.

"Mutt, calm down,'" he chuckled, getting up off the floor himself. "It was just a joke."

"Yeah, some joke," I huffed, trying to calm my racing heart. "Look, I've got to get going," I muttered, straightening my shirt and heading for the door.

"Whoa, wait a minute," Kankurou said disbelievingly, grabbing my arm to stop me. I looked over my shoulder at him in surprise, glancing at where his hand held my arm. "You can't be serious. I thought you were free for the afternoon since you're not training with Shino anymore."

I hesitated a moment before answering, still staring at his hand on my arm. I couldn't help but notice how that part of me felt a lot warmer. "I should get home and help my mom out a bit."

"But it's still raining," Kankurou finally noticed my eyes on his hand and he dropped my arm. "Aren't you going to at least wait until it stops? Coming in to dry off would would've been pointless if you leave now."

I turned and studied his face. I was getting a subtly hint of guilty vibes from him and could only chide myself for hoping he wanted me to stay for different reasons. It was as if he didn't even know that what he was doing could be taken as anything other than courtesy.

"I suppose I could wait the rain out," I said, almost reluctantly. It was so hard to be around someone you liked so much without even being able to give a hint of it.

"Great!" he grinned. "Now I'll have time to regain my status of overpowering you when we wrestle. But first I want to eat."

"Oh, so that's why you want me to stay," I smirked, raising an eyebrow at him. "And here I was thinking you actually _liked_ my company."

"Don't be such a fag, mutt," Kankurou laughed, opening the fridge. I froze and stared at his back, my face slowly acquiring that zoned-out look. _Fag_? My chest hurt so much from that one comment that I wanted to turn and leave before I broke. If he had that attitude, there really was no hope for me.

* * *

"Damn," Kankurou muttered as I jumped three of his checker pieces at once. "Nice move, mutt."

"Heh, thanks puppet-freak," I grinned, claiming his pieces and trying to act unfazed. I had just jumped three of his pieces but if he noticed, he'd be able to jump me back twice with his next move.

This is what our being stuck inside from the weather had led to. At first we thought of playing shougi, but we didn't want to end up like Shikamaru and Temari and we also weren't all that great at it, so we had decided on checkers like 'sissies', as Kankurou put it.

"Hmm…" Kankurou studied the board with his hand holding up his chin. He went to move a piece and just when I thought I was safe, he switched tactics. "Aha!" he cried triumphantly, jumping two of my pieces at once.

"Yeah, yeah," I almost yawned, pretending I didn't care. "I got a triple jump."

"Yeah, but look who's only got four pieces left on the board now?" Kankurou grinned. I sighed mentally because he was right and still had about nine pieces himself. Just like everything else we did, he was beating me again.

"You're awfully chipper for someone who said this was a game for sissies," I smirked.

"Shut up, mutt," he snarled and then grinned, raising his eyebrows at me. "Did you just say chipper?"

I glared at him a moment and then moved one of my pieces without looking away from him. "King me."

"With pleasure," he said sarcastically and I felt my heart flutter a bit. How was he able to make a simple game of checkers difficult for me and the way I was feeling?

"Whatever happened to 'a board game is your idea of fun'?"

I jumped at the mocking voice and turned quickly to find Temari standing in the archway of the room.

"It's not like there's anything better to do," Kankurou muttered and quickly changed the subject. "I didn't hear you come in. Why aren't you with shadow-boy?" Right on cue, Shikamaru walked lazily into the room and leaned on the door post.

"_Shikamaru_ walked me home after the rain stopped," Temari said defensively. "So I invited him in for a bit." She turned to me, as I was still looking over my shoulder, and said, "How come you're here? Don't you have anything better to do than hang out with my brother?" Halfway through the sentence her gaze switched back to Kankurou with a glare.

"I could say the same thing about shadow-boy over there," Kankurou jived. I took this moment to look out the window and, sure enough, it had stopped raining at some point during our game.

"His name is Shikamaru," Temari said impatiently. "What is it with you and names anyway?"

"You know what's with me and names," Kankurou sighed. I took that moment to push myself off the floor and I cleared my throat.

"Well, I should be going, since the rain's stopped," I said awkwardly and headed for the door.

"Good job," Kankurou huffed at his sister. "You just scared away the mutt." I ignored the comment and kept walking to the front door.

"Well I was surprised he stayed so long since you refuse to call him anything other than 'mutt'," Temari threw back at him as I put on my shoes. I drowned out their argument and opened the front door to their apartment and instantly started with surprise.

"Oh good, you're here too," said one of Tsunade's messengers. Temari came around the corner to see what was up and the messenger bowed slightly to her out of respect. "Temari-sama," he said. "Tsunade-sama has asked for both of you and your brother," he nodded to Temari, "to report to her within ten minutes." At this moment Shikamaru came around the corner with a yawn, followed by Kankurou. The messenger saw Shikamaru and smiled. "Good, you're all here. Tsunade-sama has requested that you, Shikamaru, come as well."

"Did you here all of that?" Temari asked Shikamaru and her brother. "All four of us have to meet with Tsunade-sama in ten minutes."

Shikamaru groaned. "Awesome."

* * *

The trek to Tsunade's office was rather eventless because I was in a hurry, whereas the other three found it suitable to lag far behind – Kankurou especially so. When I finally reached the stairs, I took my time going up, waiting for the others to catch up. Once I got to the top, Shikamaru and Temari were just coming up behind me, but Kankurou still had more than halfway to go. I sighed and leaned against the outer door frame, letting Shikamaru and Temari walk passed, and waited for Kankurou.

"Why are you taking so long?" I asked both impatiently and curiously when he reached me.

"None of your business, mutt," he growled, then quickly relaxed his face and cleared his throat as if he hadn't meant to snap at me. "Let's just get this over with."

"Heh," I muttered behind him as we walked into the Hokage's office. "If you wanted to get it over with so badly, why didn't you walk faster?"

Tsunade watched us as we all filed in and waited until we were lined up accordingly before she spoke.

"As you should all know by now," she said sternly, "Temari and Kankurou are here as representatives because Suna has chosen their new Kazekage." I nodded but Shikamaru only blinked so Tsunade went on. "I, personally, think it's the perfect choice, and so I thought you'd only have to stay here for a day or two before you headed back. Unfortunately, however, the…" she hesitated, "higher ups… are not so keen on the idea. I don't want to send you back empty handed only to await our reply from a bird, especially because I believe it will be easier for the elders to come around if you are still here. So after deliberating the matter all day, I think that in order for us to resettle our alliance, I need to ask you to stay here for a little longer than scheduled."

Temari nodded to show she understood and Kankurou watched Tsunade thoughtfully. "We'll do whatever we can to ensure we keep our alliance with you, Tsunade-sama," Temari said.

"I'm glad to here that," Tsunade smiled and Kankurou took this opportunity to speak.

"How long do you think it will be, Tsunade-sama?" he asked.

"It's hard to say, but they'll probably put it off for about a week if they can, in the hopes that the two of you head back before they decide."

Kankurou groaned quietly but Temari said nothing. My heart leapt and sped up as I realized what that meant.

"That brings me to Kiba and Shikamaru," Tsunade said, nodding at the two of us. "As you have probably figured out, if Temari-sama and Kankurou-sama are to be staying with us for more than a couple days, they will need personal escorts. Right now it's really only for formalities in order to make sure the elders can't use anything against us. I feel that you are the most suitable for the job and so I need Shikamaru-kun to be Temari-sama's escort and Kiba-kun to be Kankurou-sama's escort."

"I understand," Shikamaru and I said together. His came out as a complete drawl which I think helped cover up the unintentional excitement in mine. I tried not to think about it too much because I didn't believe anything would actually come of it, but I couldn't stop my heart from shaking.

"Stuck with the mutt again." Kankurou muttered with a smirk so that only I could hear. But when Tsunade glared at him he shut his mouth and tried to look innocent.

"You should already know what is required of all of you, but I will remind you that even though I'm only giving you this assignment as a formality, it is still important that you treat it as if our visitors weren't familiar with the village. Just having it written down that I've assigned escorts isn't good enough this time around: it is not an option." Tsunade looked at each of us in turn to make sure we understood before finishing up. "If you don't have any questions, you are dismissed."

We all nodded and left the room without a word.

"So it looks like we'll be stuck together a little longer," Kankurou smirked when we got outside. "I guess you're not free of me yet."

"Bummer," I said with a yawn. "Looks like I'll just have a bit more time to get you to address me by my name."

"Che," Kankurou sniffed as he walked passed me. "Don't get your hopes up."

"Hey, don't get too far ahead," I said, jogging to catch up with him. "We have to stay together now, remember?" Shikamaru and Temari were taking their time walking together behind us while they got into a conversation.

"Yeah, well that's only when I'm not at the apartment, so I figured if we got there faster, I could finish kicking your ass at our little game of checkers and then you could be on your way," Kankurou said without slowing down.

"Oh, is that how it is?" I smirked. "So if you want to go for a walk, you're just going to have to stay where you are until I decide to show up again."

"Che, what makes you think I want to go anywhere?" Kankurou asked. "Besides, I'm not going to wait around just so I can follow _you_ around like a puppy."

"You know, I'd love to let you walk around _un_escorted to save me the trouble and the embarrassment. But I don't hate you enough to risk my own skin for it," I shrugged nonchalantly and stared ahead.

"Whatever you say mutt," Kankurou breathed. I didn't have to look at him to know he didn't believe me.

When we got back to the apartment, first Kankurou made a quick stop in the kitchen to grab us each a drink, and then we made ourselves comfortable with the checker board between us. It only took a few minutes for Temari to show up at the door with Shikamaru and in that same amount of time I was down two pieces and Kankurou still had five. I suppose getting him down four pieces was a pretty good feat though.

Shikamaru didn't stay and Temari quickly disappeared into her room. All the while Kankurou had been chasing me around the board. Just as Temari's door clicked shut, he managed to snag one of my pieces.

"Damn," I hissed, scrutinizing my final piece. Kankurou grinned evilly and chuckled. I threw him a glare and then brought my eyes back to the board. I moved my piece and Kankurou instantly started by moving one of his pieces closer. Temari's bedroom door opened and I listened as her footsteps came closer before she finally plopped down beside us. As Kankurou continued to advance on me, Temari started laughing.

"Come on, Kankurou," she chided. "It's obvious that you won. Do you have to torture him too in order feel victorious?"

"He hasn't won yet—" I began, but stopped myself as I realized I had been cornered. "Dammit."

"Haha, looks like you're mine, mutt!" he said triumphantly as he took the final jump over my last, measly checker piece. "You owe me lunch now."

"I – since when?" I protested. "We didn't have any stakes."

"Since I butchered your sorry ass," he said, gathering up the pieces and putting them back in their bag. Temari rolled her eyes and got up off the floor to leave the room.

"No way! If that's the case, I want a rematch," I argued.

"Are you sure about that?" he asked with one of his smirks. I decided glaring was the best answer. Chances were he'd just beat me again. "How about tomorrow at 11:00?"

"I thought you didn't want to go anywhere in this stupid village," I said, standing up with him when he went to put the board away.

"I never actually said that," he said over his shoulder. "And I also never pass up a free lunch." There was a momentary pause as he shoved the board into its place on a shelf and then turned back to face me. "Tomorrow at 11:00?"

I huffed in surrender. "Fine."

"It's a date, then," Kankurou said as he stretched out the stiffness from sitting on the floor. Even though I think I managed to act unfazed by his choice of words, I was still glad that when he stretched he had his eyes closed. "Until then…"

"Yeah, I have to go anyway," I said while releasing the air from my lungs. "I've got some things I have to do before dinner. I'm assuming you don't want to go anywhere?"

"Nope," Kankurou said, following me to the front door. He leaned against the wall with his arms folded while I slipped on my shoes. "I'm perfectly fine here."

"Alright," I breathed, straightening up and grabbing the doorknob. "See you."

"Tomorrow at eleven," Kankurou said, almost slyly, as I stepped out and shut the door behind me.

* * *

"Hey Kiba, what took you so long?" Ino hollered as I made my way over to the table. Shino and Chouji were beside her and across from them were Hinata and Sakura. It seemed I wasn't the only one that hadn't arrived yet. I sat down beside Hinata, which was across from Ino, and Akamaru crawled under the table and curled up at my feet.

"Sorry, guys, I got held up," I apologized. It was later than I thought by the time I'd left Kankurou's place. I'd had barely enough time to get everything done and make it to the restaurant in time. It was a new restaurant that recently opened up in the main district and we all wanted to check it out. "Lee and Tenten haven't shown up yet?"

"Tenten was here earlier but she had to go. And there's no sign of Lee or Shikamaru," Ino pouted as she handed me a plate. "We ordered some of almost everything so just help yourself," she explained.

"Yeah, Shikamaru's probably not coming," I said, reaching for as many different kinds of meat that I could see.

"Why not?" Ino asked.

"Oh, come on, Ino," Sakura said from the other end of the table. When the attention was taken away from me, I slipped some meat under the table for Akamaru. "It's obvious he's with Temari. Don't look so surprised."

"You act as if that would _concern_ me in some way," Ino said defiantly. "Why would I care about that? You're just jealous that my teammates are still in the village."

That shut everyone up – including Chouji, who was telling Shino about a recent mission in great detail.

The first noise came from Hinata beside me, which was very similar to a squeak.

"Oh, you don't still care about Naruto like that, do you?" I asked rather impatiently and almost condescendingly. Basically I snapped at her which was something I really didn't mean to do. When Hinata didn't say anything, Ino came to her defense.

"Good job, Kiba," she huffed. "I can tell you're the real sensitive type."

"That's good coming from you after what you just said," I threw back at her.

"Yeah, well at least I know I'm cruel."

"Guys, guys… cut it out," Chouji cut in. "The foods going cold." Everyone froze for a moment before a giggle escaped from Sakura's lips. Next it was Ino to let out a chuckle and then the whole table was filled with laughter. Even Shino looked like he was laughing silently. We all laughed even harder when Chouji continued to laugh while trying to eat.

Once everyone had calmed down and people broke off into their own conversations, I nudged Hinata softly. I knew I had her attention even though she didn't look at me.

"Sorry I said that," I muttered quietly so I didn't attract attention.

"That—that's okay, Kiba," she smiled at me, not needing to lower her already quiet voice. When everyone but Chouji seemed to have eaten all that they could, I let Akamaru lick off my plate – including some extra meat – and then excused myself and threw down enough money to cover my share and then some. The girls protested at my leave but I told them I was all worn out; it had been a long day.

Plus I was anxious about meeting up with Kankurou tomorrow and wanted the day to be over.

Akamaru whined when he realized we were leaving the fun behind, but I promised him some extra treats at home if he came without a fuss. Once I was out of standard earshot, my canine hearing picked up Ino whispering to Hinata.

"He really cares about you, you know," she said. "I'm sure he didn't mean to snap." I smiled when I heard that, because I hated it when Hinata was upset.

I had no idea that it was the beginning of my troubles.

* * *

**Tuesday**

I rolled over and rubbed the sleep out of my groggy eyes. I blinked at the time on my alarm clock, letting it come into focus.

11:42 am.

I groaned and started to roll back over, but instead twisted around so that I ended in a sitting position. I let my head clear of my dreams, which were already fading, and finally remembered that I'd had a hard time falling asleep the night before. Why was that? I started to lie back down because I was still tired, but I jumped up, suddenly alert, as I remembered why.

I'd been too anxious about lunch today to fall asleep last night. It must have been early morning before I finally dozed off.

Dammit! I rushed over to my drawers and yanked them open. Dammit, dammit. Dammit! I was so godamn late! I stripped off my boxers and quickly pulled another pair on, followed by my pants and then a mesh shirt.

"Come on, Akamaru!" I said as I opened my bedroom door, pulling on my leather jacket at the same time. I paused momentarily when I didn't hear the usual bark. "Akamaru?" I turned around and scanned my room for him. He wasn't there.

"Akamaru?" I called as I hurried down the stairs. "Mom? Mom! Where's Akamaru?" I yelled frantically as I hurried into the kitchen.

"Calm down, Kiba," my mom said as I came to a halt. She was sitting at the table, reading from a cook book. "There's no need to yell in the house – especially when we already have heightened hearing."

"Where's Akamaru?" I asked again, quieter this time, but still clearly impatient.

"You slept in so late that Hana decided to take him out with the rest of the pack to train," she said, going back to her cook book.

"Ugh," I rolled my eyes and threw my arms up, still impatient. "Why didn't you wake me?"

"You looked tired," she said without looking up. "I thought I'd let you sleep." When I stared at her, unsure whether or not it was justifiable being angry, she spoke again. "Look, you can either tell me what's up and why today is so important, or you can stop glaring at me and go do whatever it is that you're obviously late for."

This reminded me of the time and when I looked up at the clock five more precious minutes had already gone by. Crap. I turned on the spot and rushed out the door, hardly pausing to throw on some shoes. My mom didn't say anything else, which was one of the things that were so great about her, and before I had time to think, I was racing across the roofs of Konoha.

Moving was always faster when done from above, and the Suna siblings' apartment was practically on the other end of the village. I was two buildings away from it in no time, but it wasn't until I was that close that I stopped in my tracks and dropped down to the ground in the side alley. I landed on all fours and stayed that way for a minute as I caught my breath. What was I thinking? I couldn't just race in there like this. Did I want to look desperate?

I stood up straight, making sure I was no longer panting for air. Normally a run like that wouldn't affect me so much, but the fact that I was nervous made my heart work even faster. I walked the rest of the way there. I was already late so a few more minutes wouldn't change anything. I took the stairs, now trying to find an excuse to take my time. I wasn't sure if my nervousness was brought on because I was late and I didn't know how Kankurou would react, or if it was just because I was about to see him again.

I got to the door and raised my fist to knock, but it hung in midair when I hesitated. I cleared my throat and swallowed, then let my fist move towards the wood. My knuckles had hardly made contact on the first knock before the door was opened.

"Oh," Temari jumped in surprise. Shikamaru was right behind her and I figured they were heading out. "Kiba? What are you doing here?"

"Uh, I'm here for Kankurou," I said, a bit confused because the answer was obvious.

"What are you talking about? He left with you an hour ago. Where is he?" Temari asked checking the hall for him to be sure.

"What are _you_ talking about?" I asked in return. "I haven't even been awake an hour."

"That lying son of a…" Temari muttered to herself, letting an angry breath out through her nose. Behind her, Shikamaru's eyebrows were arching together disapprovingly as he stared off into space.

"Troublesome…"

"He left alone, didn't he?" I groaned, not really expecting an answer. "Idiot. Did he say where he… well, where 'we' were going?"

"No," she said, crossing her arms thoughtfully. "But he left with his puppets so I thought you guys were going to train."

"Alright, I'll check the training grounds," I said, turning quickly.

"Okay, we'll keep an eye out for him too," Temari called after me. "Kiba?" I stopped and turned to her. "You have to find him. The elders will use any excuse they can get to reject the alliance with my youngest brother."

"I know," I said. "I'll find him."

* * *

_Happy New Year! Hope everyone takes the time to paaaarty! XD_


	4. Involuntary Verity

**KANKUROU - Tuesday**

**4 – Involuntary Verity**

_Involuntary – controlled by the automatic nervous system; without conscious control_

_Verity – conformity to reality or actuality_

I was pissed off when I woke up because not only did I wake up early, but my dream was cut off at the most crucial moment. My mind was still tired even though my body wasn't, and I wanted to finish the dream so I tossed and turned in bed for an hour as I tried to live it out. Once I finally realized how useless it was and that the dream was long gone, I rolled over once more and pushed the blankets off of me. It wasn't until I was sitting on the edge of my bed, rubbing my eyes, that I realized consciously what I had been dreaming about. Or more importantly: who.

Kiba had been everywhere. I don't even know what was supposed to be so great about it other than the fact that he was there. He had hardly even talked. I just knew he was there and I wanted him to stay there. I shook my head and rapped my fist against it a couple of times. What was wrong with me? I was definitely coming down with something. I ran my hands down my face with a groan and checked the time. It was hardly after eight. That meant I had almost three hours to kill before Kiba came and rescued me from this boring place. I stood up with a sigh and headed for the shower. I planned on using up all the hot water so that I didn't have to be the only one pissed off this morning. Sure enough, within the hour a shriek rippled through the apartment.

"Kankurou!" Temari screamed as she stormed into my room wearing nothing but a towel with her hair dripping wet. "You used up all of the hot water again, didn't you?"

"No," I lied as I flipped through a book on puppet poison and accessories.

"You're such a liar!" she growled angrily through clenched teeth. "And an ass!"

"Actually, last I heard I was lifeless a dummy," I said nonchalantly, still not looking at her.

"Ugh!" she growled again, turning on her heel and going back to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. For some reason this didn't give me as much satisfaction as it usually did.

After such a boring and angry morning in an apartment with two pissed off siblings, eleven o'clock could not have come faster. And so when it got to five after and Kiba still hadn't shown up when I had expected him to be early – though I don't know why I expected that – I was understandably even more pissed. I didn't even care about the stupid elders. I just had to get out of there.

I grabbed my puppets, lashed them to my back, and made my way to the front door.

"I'm going out," I called through Temari's bedroom door. Just as I was stepping out the door Temari's bedroom door opened.

"What about…?" Temari began to ask but I cut her off.

"Kiba's here," I said, then added, "Let's go," to the open air in the hallway to make it more believable. I shut the door without sparing Temari another glance and booked it down the stairs.

I took the back roads and the rooftops to avoid being seen and quickly ducked into the tall grasses once I reached the training grounds. I tore into the trees and searched for the quietest and most remote place I could find. I stumbled upon a small clearing that was near the edge of the forest but on the far side of the grounds. I dropped my stuff at the clearings edge, keeping to the shadows, and began to unravel Karasu.

He was in need of a good clean and this morning I read about a neat trick for applying poison and wanted to try it out. The sun was passed its maximum height in the sky by the time I was satisfied with what I'd done. I'd probably been at it for over an hour.

I leaned back against a tree and pulled off my hood, and then draped it over my face to block out the sun so I could rest for a bit. I hadn't even managed to get comfy before I heard a twig break nearby. I tensed and stayed still; trying to listen to what direction they were going. Once I was sure that the person was headed towards me, I was getting ready to grab and go, but when I pulled the hood off of my face I picked up a very distinct smell of dog. It was the only dog smell I actually liked. I smiled, relieved, and put the hood back over my face. I'll just wait for him here.

My smile grew wider when I heard him enter the clearing and stop. He was panting and probably staring at me in extreme frustration. I still didn't move when he started walking over to me.

"_Where_ have you _been_?" Kiba yelled, making me regret not responding when he kicked me in the side. I grunted and flinched, making the hood fall off of my face. "Do you have _any idea_ what sort of trouble you could have caused? I've been looking _everywhere_ for you!" I looked up at him with an innocent smile, but he knew it was fake. "Ugh! I can't believe you're so irresponsible! _Please_ tell me no one saw you."

"Alright, alright, no one saw me," I said, putting my hands up in surrender. Irresponsible was right and I hadn't expected him use that kind of a word. It made his anger more serious and for some reason that bugged me. "I know I shouldn't have come here, okay? But I could _not_ stay in that apartment one second longer. It was suffocating." I stood up and crossed my arms. "And _you_ were late."

"I know," Kiba sighed. I hadn't expected him to give in so easily either. I'd expected him to argue, so I decided to say my next thought anyway.

"Aren't you supposed to make sure we're happy here? I'm not allowed to go anywhere without you so don't you think the least you could do is be on time? What did you expect?"

"I know, I _know_," Kiba huffed this time. "But that's still no excuse to go running off like that. If you had been seen…"

"Look," I said. "I wasn't seen, and you found me, so no harm done. Can't we just" I huffed, "drop it?"

Kiba stared at me with his arms and eyebrows crossed. Finally, his eyebrows relaxed and he plopped down onto the grass. I sighed in relief and sat back down against the tree.

"What are you doing all the way out here anyway?" Kiba asked, observing my puppets and the lack of evidence that I had been training.

"I was cleaning them," I said, gesturing to my cleaning supplies. "The joints can get rusty and the poison dries up faster if you don't take care of them properly."

"Oh," was all Kiba said. I watched him as he moved closer to Karasu.

"So how long did it take you?" Kiba asked, inspecting Karasu's weapons and joints. He sniffed at a few parts every now and then. "To master being a puppeteer, I mean."

"Heh." I watched him in amusement at his antics. It was like watching a puppy sniff another dog's toy. "Ever since I started training to be a ninja."

"So you've always known you wanted to be a puppet master?"

I considered him for a moment. "Ever since I heard about Sasori from Elder Chiyo."

"Who and who?" he asked, getting up and walking around to Karasu's side only to crouch back down and continue his inspection.

"Sasori of the Red Sands – he designed that puppet you've currently gotten your face in. You better hope he forgives you for invading his personal space." Kiba frowned at my joke and turned to face me. "Sasori also designed pretty much every other puppet in existence. And Elder Chiyo is one of the two elders of Suna – the ones that keep the Kage in check."

He turned back to the puppet and made a "hmm" noise, seemingly unfazed.

"Watch out," I said, flicking my thumb and causing a blade to eject from one of Karasu's limbs. Kiba's upper body jumped back in surprise, only to lean forward again to sniff at the new weapon. "I did warn you about the personal space."

"That's a pretty neat trick," Kiba said, ignoring my comment and lifting a finger to it. "Talk about chakra control. So this must be pretty sharp." He was slowly bringing his finger to the blade to test it, and when it was inches away I felt myself shoot up, almost involuntarily and reaching in Kiba's direction in panic.

"Kiba, wait!" I yelled frantically. He stopped with his finger a centimeter from the blade, and then his face broke into a grin. Pulling his hand back, he started to chuckle. I growled at him and his chuckle turned into laughter. He was soon gasping for breath and tried to speak between giggles.

"You should… have seen… ahaha… the… haha!... the look on… your… y-y-your… face!" He let his laughter take control and even went so far as to fall over on his side.

I scowled at him menacingly and waited for him to calm down. He finally reached wheezing breaths and sat back up.

"You know," he said with a final chuckle. "I can smell poison when it's yards away. And your puppet reeks. How did you think I found you?" His face broke into another smile as he tried to suppress more laughter. "I can't believe you fell for that."

"Well sorry for letting myself _care_." I glowered at him until his face fell in guilt. His ears would have fallen as well like a guilty dog's if it were possible.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Kiba said, eyebrows creasing and hand lifting to a point a lazy finger at me. "You… you said…"

"Said what?" I asked, suddenly wary.

He narrowed his eyes. "You used my name."

My face blanched. Shit.

"What are you going on about now, mutt?" I asked quickly, hoping my now confused face was believable.

"You said you only use names when you actually care about someone."

"Yeah, so?" I continued to hold my confused expression.

"Soo… You used my name!" he said, his face holding a look of surprised triumph.

"I did not." I folded my arms reluctantly.

"Yes you did! You said "Kiba wait'." His eyes suddenly dropped as if he was worried he had imagined it. I took that to my advantage.

"I definitely didn't. You probably just imagined I did because you want me to so bad," I concluded, a sly smile on my face. "Now why would you want something like that?"

Kiba's face seemed to be reddening from embarrassment at first, but then I saw it was anger.

"What the hell?" he almost yelled, standing up and facing me properly. "You just completely turned that around! What's so wrong with admitting you said my name?"

"Because I didn't say it!" I yelled back, standing up with him. "Now why don't you just stop living in your little fantasy world for once and find someone else to obsess over?"

"Oh, so now you think I'm obsessed with you?" he asked mockingly, taking a stepped forward. On instinct, I moved my fingers and one of Karasu's limbs flew out in front of him, effectively tripping him and sending him to the ground. There was enough space between us for him to fall without crashing into me and so he ended up kneeling on the ground on all fours, hissing in pain.

"Kankurou, you idiot," he said as if talking took all his energy. He then collapsed and fell on his side, away from Karasu. I didn't understand what was going on until he moved out of the way and I saw which arm I had used to trip him. My eyes widened in fear as I saw the cut on his leg.

"Shit, Kiba!" I took two quick steps over and dropped down beside him. He breathing was ragged and his eyelids were fluttering. The poison on Karasu's blades was a new kind that attacked the blood stream and slowed down the heart until it stopped. With Kiba's heightened senses, it meant his blood flow was faster, which meant the poison would work faster.

"Don't black out," I said frantically, pulling off my pouch and looking through it for the antidote. "You have to stay conscious, or it will only kill you faster."

"Heh," he managed to breathe out. "Kill me faster? That's reassuring."

"Shut up," I growled. "Just concentrate on breathing."

He breathed in and out. In… and out… I finally resorted to dumping out all the contents of my pouch and I grabbed a vial of green liquid. His breathing was growing lower still as I filled a syringe with the liquid – it had to go in the same way the poison did: through the blood.

"Don't worry, Kiba," I said gruffly. "I'm not about to let you die on me."

Kiba merely smiled and whispered something that I barely caught as I shifted him and rolled up his sleeve. "You… said my name… again."

And then his head fell back and his body went limp.

"Kiba! Kiba! You idiot I said to stay conscious!" I managed to get his jacket sleeve above his elbow and made no hesitation as I stuck the needle into the crook of his outstretched arm and empted the syringe into his bloodstream. When all the green liquid was I gone, I tossed the syringe to the side and laid Kiba on his back. I titled his head back and checked to see if he was breathing. He wasn't. I put two fingers under his chin and against his neck to check for a pulse. There wasn't.

Wait. I felt a small ripple. It was small but it was there.

I checked his breathing again but there was still nothing. Without further hesitation, I tore open his jacket and placed my hands on his chest, one over the other, and pushed down on him five times. I tilted his head back to find he still wasn't breathing. I plugged his nose and breathed into his mouth once, but before I could finish my breath, he sat bolt upright and started coughing.

I found myself breathing heavily and my own heart beating in a way that was straining on my chest and made breathing even harder.

"You okay, mutt?" I asked, holding a hand to his back to support him while he re-familiarized himself with breathing. He finally slowed his breathing enough to talk and he turned to me.

"Shouldn't you have an antidote already prepared to be injected?" he half-scowled, half-teased.

"Well I'm sorry that I'm not stupid enough to cut myself on my own puppet," I retorted. "Usually if Karasu cuts someone, I don't _want_ to give them the antidote."

"Well then I suppose it's a good thing that you care about me, huh?" he grinned teasingly, flashing his canines – his breathing still noticeably heavy.

I suppose normally I would have gotten angry again and started another argument about how it was only so I didn't start a war with Konoha or something.

But I didn't care this time.

"Whatever you say, mutt," I said, standing up and flicking my thumb to finally retract Karasu's deadly weapon. I knelt down beside the puppet and inspected him to make sure he was good for wrapping up. I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye and turned to see Kiba reach up tentatively and touch his lips, and his eyes seemed to fill with a new thought. He turned to me.

"Did you—?" he asked, still touching his bottom lip with his fingers.

"No," I said, a little too quickly. But I recovered just as quickly with a smirk. "I don't care about you _that_ much."

His mouth twitched into a knowing smile as I looked back to Karasu, and from the corner of my eye I saw his hand drop and pull down his sleeve.

* * *

"I'll see you tomorrow, then?" Kiba asked after he dropped me back off at the apartment.

"Yeah, ten o'clock – don't be late," I said with a grin, which Kiba returned before walking away. I shut the door and slipped out of my shoes. I still had a silly smile on my face when Temari came into the hall and glared at me with her hands on her hips.

"And just _what_ did you think you were doing, going out alone this morning?" she hissed at me.

"Temari," I began with a sigh. "I've already heard it from Kiba, I know I was irresponsible. But I also wasn't seen, so you can stop worrying… and it won't happen again." She studied me for a minute before replying.

"Damn right, it won't," she said, keeping eye contact to make sure I was paying attention. Once she was satisfied, she turned and walked briskly into the kitchen. I followed her in and took in a deep breath.

"Mm… What's cooking?" I asked appreciatively.

"Pork stir-fry," she said as she moved the stuff in the wok around with what looked like a big spatula. She then turned off the burner and pulled it off the heat, turning to me. "And you're just in time. It's done."

"Sweet," I said, dropping down on a cushion at the table. "I'm famished."

Temari already had two places set, each with a bowl of rice. She added the stir-fry to the middle of the table and sat down across from me. I immediately started loading stuff onto my plate, and only slowed down when I noticed the look Temari was giving me. I put my plate down and picked up my chopsticks innocently, which only made her roll her eyes as she helped herself to a serving.

Eating reminded me of lunch with Kiba. I smiled when I remembered how I played him the whole time, insisting that he was going to pay, and then secretly paid for everything when he was in the bathroom. The look on his face was priceless.

He'd told me all about how his clan was supposedly connected to the dogs they fight with and I told him what I knew about Sasori of the Red Sands and why he was the reason I wanted to be a puppeteer. I noticed that he didn't have his dog with him and he told me that Hana had taken him with her pack to train. I didn't really want to admit it but I was glad that the dog wasn't around. Dogs have a way of knowing things.

But what exactly was it that I was afraid the dog would know? And if the dog did know, would Kiba be able to understand him? I didn't know how their communication thing worked so maybe I was just being paranoid. But why be paranoid? I didn't even know what was wrong with me. I kept telling myself that I was coming down with something, but so far all I'd really experienced was a tight chest and a knotted stomach.

"Temari?" I asked as I looked up from my dinner before I knew what I was asking.

She glanced up at me and then back to her food. "What?"

"You like Shikamaru, right?" I asked matter-of-factly.

"Where the hell is that coming from?" she shot at me defensively.

"Never mind," I huffed, and Temari went back to her food. "Uh…" I hesitated. "What's it like… to have a… crush?"

Temari stopped eating and looked up at me with a hint of surprise. "Well," she began. "It's like, whenever you're near that person, you want to smile. And if you don't smile it's because you're trying to hide it and you probably cover it up with anger. If you do that long enough then you might actually be able to convince yourself that you do hate that person." She paused to take a bite of food and chewed it thoughtfully before swallowing. "Say you find yourself physically close to them; you'd feel embarrassed and maybe blush, depending."

"What do you mean by _physically close_?" I asked, feeling myself get nervous. "How close?"

"Well," Temari sighed. "Usually when your faces are close."

"But how would that even happen?"

"Easy. One of you could fall into the other person, causing you to both fall to the ground on top of each other; one of you may trip and find yourself righted in front of them; or maybe you're just picking an argument with them and get up in their face before realizing how close you've come. There's lots of ways."

I looked down at my food, hoping my face didn't give anything away. Yes there were lots of ways; like pinning them to the ground just for fun or performing CPR because you were stupid enough to poison them.

"But that could happen to anyone," Temari went on. "If you _do_ like the person, then you'll feel your face heat up like a sudden fever, causing you to back away quickly and awkwardly. Or maybe even your thoughts become plagued with an impulse to kiss them. It will almost always be one of those. Why do you ask?"

"Uh…" I hesitated for a second time, remembering how Kiba had fallen on his ass when I had gotten in his face. I suppose the real reason I brought it up was because I needed to talk about it. And Temari was the only one that wouldn't judge me. "Because I think I was feeling that today."

Temari choked on the water she was drinking – so much for not judging. She went into a small coughing fit as I glared at her. "Well is it really that hard to believe?" I asked angrily as she drank some more water to clear her throat.

"Well, yeah," she finally breathed. "Kankurou, I don't think you've _ever_ had a crush before."

"That's why I was asking!" I almost yelled at her, angry that she was judging me and reluctantly embarrassed. I went to poke roughly at my food to keep from making eye contact with her. Temari was watching me as she held her chopsticks loosely in one hand and got something out of her teeth with her tongue.

"So who is it?" she finally asked.

I huffed and looked up at her. "It's no one. You'd just laugh anyway."

"I won't laugh, I swear."

"Well, you'll be angry," I said as casually as I could, not really meaning to let it slip out.

"Angry?" Temari looked at me quizzically. "Why would I be angry? Look, Kankurou. Just because it's someone from this village doesn't mean I'm going to be angry, if that's what you're going on about."

"Not exactly," I muttered, chewing on my food.

"Well, it's not like its Shikamaru! He's not your type: he's too lazy and unmotivated. Not to mention shrewd. So I've got no reason to be angry!"

"So you do like him?" I grinned wickedly at her. Temari huffed and I went back to the topic at hand. "Why do you say it like that anyway?"

"Like what?" she asked, seemingly clueless.

"Like I'd actually like him if he wasn't lazy?" I stared at her and hoped that my heating face wasn't noticeable. She was being way too casual about this. Temari only watched me as she chewed her food. She finally sighed and sat up straight.

"Well, if I guess who it is, will you tell me?" she asked impatiently.

"Yeah, sure," I sighed. No harm there I guess_._

"And it's someone from this village, right?"

I nodded.

Temari looked up at the ceiling as she thought about it. "Well," she muttered to herself. "I know there's no way its Lee; he's too emotional. It's obviously not Shikamaru." She looked at me. "Naruto, maybe?"

I stared at her in horror. "What? No!"

"Just kidding, I knew that. Ok, let's see," she began muttering again. "Well it's not that fatty – what was his name? Cozy? Whatever. Hmm, Neji?" she looked at me again and I only stared. "No, I guess not." She looked up again. "There's that bug guy you fought during the Chuunin exams. But he's too withdrawn for you." Temari stopped for a few seconds before she looked at me and grinned. "I'm only teasing you, you know. I know that it's Ki—"

"Temari!" I yelled, cutting her off. "What's you're problem? Those are all guys!"

"So?" Temari looked at me, clearly confused.

"You think I like a guy?" I continued to yell as I stared at her in shock. There was no way it was that obvious. I didn't even act like I was gay.

"Don't you?"

"Where the hell is that coming from?" I breathed heavily, hoping the red in my face would be mistaken for anger.

"It was kind of obvious," Temari said, putting down her chopsticks. "Whenever you looked at girls they were just there; more people. And you'd never gotten even a slight crush on one. You never seemed interested in them at all."

"How could you have known all this time?" I asked completely flustered and finally giving into the facts. "I only just figured it out!"

"Really?" Temari stared at him. "Well, I guess it was the way you _didn't_ look at them. You never once checked one out. I mean, it's not like you didn't know which ones were beautiful or attractive. But you never described one as 'hot' or 'sexy' or like a piece of meat. And you always made up an excuse to not have a date for whatever event had come up. Most guys your age would do everything they can to get a girl just so that they can satisfy their raging hormones." Temari paused to study his face. "So who is he?"

I huffed.

"It's Kiba, isn't it?"

"What difference does it make?" I huffed again and rolled my eyes. How could she figure it out so easily?

"The difference is you said you'd tell me."

"Alright, fine," I crossed my arms. "What if it is Kiba?"

"You should tell him," Temari said flatly.

"What? Are you crazy? No way!" I almost stumbled over my words as I felt my face heating up again. "I don't see you telling Shikamaru."

"That's beside the point. Kiba might actually like you, too."

"You do realize what you're saying?" I asked as if she was stupid. "It's one thing for a guy to tell a girl that he likes her. If she rejects him, then whatever; there's only a slight possibility that it'll be awkward between the two of them. But if I told a _guy_, do you know how destroying that would be? Not only would it be awkward between us, guaranteed, but it would be awkward to be around _anyone_ after that. I would destroy whatever friendship we had and then the whole world will know that I'm _not_ straight because there's no way anyone who rejects you would keep something like that a secret."

"Well you'll have to come out of the closet sooner or later!" Temari shot at me. "You're never going to find anyone if you keep trying to hide it!"

"Well how about this?" I tried. "If you tell Shikamaru, I might tell Kiba."

"Dammit, Kankurou!" Temari said through clenched teeth. "This isn't about me and Shikamaru! Don't you get it? I don't want you to end up alone just because you're scared of what people will think!"

"Well how am I ever supposed to tell someone I like him if you can't even do it?" I was yelling now as I stood from the table, which was not how I had wanted this to end. "At least you could just beat someone up for rejecting you and be done with it! You hardly have anything to loose! You could even stay friends if you wanted to! But if a guy tells another guy that he's into him then there's no chance of friendship. Every guy I've ever met will question every move I've ever made around him once it's out!" I smashed the side of my clenched fist into the wall. "Dammit!"

My oldest and only sister stared after me in shock as I stormed down the hall. When I got to my room I slammed the door shut and pounded the side of my fist against the wall again. "Dammit!" I whispered.

I slinked over to the bed and sprawled out on top of it on my back. Tell Kiba? What was she thinking? Whatever happened to good sisterly advice? I sighed and rolled over, checking the time on the alarm clock. It was only just after eight, but I felt exhausted.

I tried to let my body give in to sleep, but my head was swarming with so many thoughts that I couldn't. And all of these thoughts could be categorized into two columns: hope and doubt. I knew what Temari said was ridiculous there was no way I could tell him. That was the doubt. But it was because of what she said that was creating the illusion of hope as well. The more I thought about it though, the more it made sense – the more it seemed possible.

After all, Kiba had started the whole thing by trying to get me to address him by his first name. He knew that I only would if I cared about him, so why did he want me to so badly if he didn't care about me? Unless of course he's just that full of himself.

But then, of course, there was that time that I got in his face and he started to look all awkward before falling backwards on his ass. Isn't that what Temari described as symptoms of a crush? Or maybe he was just scared of me.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized just how often Kiba's face got red, and it always happened when we were close or when I said something about caring or something along those lines. Though he usually looked frustrated or angry at those times too, and that could mean that the blood just tends to rush to his face easily. Then again, Temari did say embarrassment is often covered up with anger.

I groaned and rolled so that my face was buried in a pillow. It was all just too much to think about. I stayed like that until I couldn't breathe properly anymore and then turned onto my back.

My mind refused to give up, throwing all the different thoughts and scenarios at me that it could come up with. About the only good thing that came from my mind denying my body its much needed rest was that when I woke up the next morning, I had less time to wait before Kiba arrived.

* * *

**Wednesday**

"I love how I was actually on time today," Kiba smirked when I finally got to the door. "And _you_ were the one that slept in late."

"It was intentional payback," I said smoothly as we started to walk down the hall. "Besides, if I was on time today, that would be seen as eager, and I can't have you thinking that I care _that_ much." The irony of this statement was that I had with gone my face paint today because of how long it takes to apply. Kiba looked like he had rushed out of the house this morning as well; he was wearing a ratty old t-shirt and his jeans had holes in the knees. But all together he pulled off a cool look.

"Well at least you're not denying it anymore," Kiba grinned, opening the door to the stairwell and letting me through first. "That's a bonus."

"I thought you were only concerned about what I called you," I teased. "I didn't realize the caring part meant so much to you." Just as I said this, Kiba slipped on a step on the way down and I quickly grabbed his arm to stop him from falling. Because he was coming down behind me, this pretty much brought him flush against my body. "Watch yourself."

"Well your concern for me does have its benefits," he smiled arrogantly, pushing back from my body so he could stand up straight and then he nodded to my hand around his arm to prove his point.

"Mmhmm," I smiled disbelievingly, which didn't get a reply from him. We were looking straight at each other because he was standing on the higher step which only made him slightly taller than me. I wasn't even thinking about how the close proximity should be awkward until I noticed Kiba's face was slightly red and he looked like he was ready to loose his balance again. I quickly dropped his arm and continued walking down the stairs, pretending I hadn't noticed.

The way I see it: if he didn't like me, he would have cringed away from me and tried to maintain more of a distance between us – kept his head on. Instead, he becomes a complete baka who blushes and looks like he's going to have an episode every time we're close. If Temari was right, which she usually was, then I should tell Kiba.

It wasn't until we'd reached the bottom floor that I finally opened my mouth. "Uh, Kiba…"

"Huh?" he turned to face me, not really confused or curious or anything, just attentive.

"Uh," I hesitated. "I forgot something." Idiot. Complete chicken-fuck idiot.

"Oh. I'll just wait outside," he said as I turned and practically ran up the stairs. I didn't bother going back to the apartment because it was pointless. I just counted to five and then walked back down the stairs, trying to figure something out as I went.

When I got to the front doors, I was about to go out, but I saw Kiba talking with Ino. The thing that stopped me was that he looked uncomfortable and she looked like she was flirting. She asked him something and he got defensive, and then she took a step closer to him and got right in his face. She had a manipulative smile on her face, and I could see from here that Kiba's ears were turning red. I watched him stumble backwards and when his face started to look angry, I turned and walked the other way.

Why did I even bother? Why would Kiba be into guys when he's got girls like Ino? And even though I could see she was playing him, he was clearly blind.

* * *

_"He said we're half way there!" - Digger, Legend of the Gaurdians  
_


	5. Destructive Misconceptions

**KIBA - Wednesday**

**5 – Destructive Misconceptions**

_Destruction – an event (or the result of an event) that completely destroys something  
Misconceptions – an incorrect conception_

_Conception - an abstract or general idea inferred or derived from specific instances; the creation of something in the mind_

I knew I should have gone back upstairs with Kankurou the minute I saw Ino heading towards me. She had that look on her face that she often used to manipulate people. I looked around and let out a big sigh when I saw there was no where to go and braced myself for the onslaught.

"Hey Kiba," Ino smiled while batting her eyelashes ever so slightly.

"What do you want, Ino?" I asked roughly.

"You don't need to snap at me," Ino pouted. "I was just saying hi."

"Seriously," I said, rolling my eyes. "What is it?" She rolled her own eyes and sighed.

"Alright, the truth is I wanted to talk to you about Hinata," she said, putting her hand on her hip and cocking it to the side.

"Hinata?" I asked, suddenly wary. "Is this about the other night?"

"Yeah, I guess so," she said thoughtfully. When I made a confused sound she continued. "When you accidentally _snapped_ at the poor girl the other night, I realized I needed to do some serious intervention."

"What are you talking about, Ino? I apologized to her already."

"Oh I know," she smiled, folding her arms and moving her weight to her other hip. "But you need to be more obvious than that, Kiba. I mean, I noticed because I'm an expert at these things. But Hinata couldn't get a clue if they were handing them out for free in the training grounds."

"Hey, you better watch what you say about her," I said defensively.

"That's what I mean: It's painfully obvious."

"What's obvious?" I growled. I was getting impatient now.

"It's obvious that you like her!" Ino said as if I was stupid. She didn't even give me time to speak before she went on. "That's why I'm here. You clearly get jealous easily and have trouble controlling your temper and that's no way to get a girl."

"Ino—"

"You need to be nice to her; pamper her."

"Ino—"

"And getting angry when her crush is mentioned doesn't help. And neither did competing with him before he left the village."

"Ino!" I practically yelled, finally cutting her off. "I don't like Hinata!"

She laughed. "What?" she said as if to say 'give me a break' and took two slow steps closer to me so that she was right in my face. "Are you going to tell me that her crush on Naruto bothers you because _you _like him?" As she started to say it I knew my face was heating up. I needed damage control and I needed it fast. I did the obvious thing and hoped my red face looked like it was from anger.

"What the hell do you know, Ino?" I shouted. "You don't know me. You don't know what I'm thinking. And you obviously don't know how to read my anger. But if you knew that I had a short temper, why did you come down here? So I could yell at you? God, what did you think I was going to do? Get down on my knees and worship you for being a matchmaker and beg for your help? Get real Ino! You don't know anything."

Ino backed away and stared coldly at me. "If that's the way you're going to be, then I hope you never find a girl to be with!" she said angrily with her eyebrows knitted together. "Hmph!" I just glared at her as she spun around and stormed away.

Because I was watching her to make sure she kept walking, I didn't turn when Kankurou came outside and stood beside me.

"What's got your shackles up?" Kankurou asked casually. Once I was sure that Ino was gone I turned to him. I gave him a look for making the dog reference and finally spoke.

"What took you so long?" I snapped. If he'd hurried up he could have saved me from Ino.

"Whoa, don't bite my head off, mutt," Kankurou said, putting his hands up to show they were empty. "That's why you're angry?"

"Well if you hadn't taken so long, you could have rescued me from Ino!" I huffed.

"What? Was her flirting that scary?" Kankurou said with a chuckle.

"She was hardly flirting," I muttered.

"Come on now, that's no way to get a girl," Kankurou said, thumping me on the back and curling his arm around my shoulder. I turned and glared at him.

"Don't you start playing matchmaker too," I said, turning my gaze to glare down the road instead.

"Huh? Matchmaker?" Kankurou dropped his arm with a confused look on his face and leaned back to look at me properly.

"Look, can we just drop it?" I huffed again, looking down at the ground with a hand on my hip and then looking back up.

"Okay, mutt. Chill," Kankurou said as he linked his fingers behind his head and started walking.

"I thought you'd quit it with the dog references, Kankurou," I complained with another huff, following after him. "We both know you used my name."

"I don't have to admit anything," Kankurou said with a cocky smile and without looking at me. "The whole world doesn't need to know. Besides, I saved your life – twice now – so I'm not obligated to do anything extra for you."

I cleared my throat as I remembered the day he saved me from the weird clones. It took a second before I realized when the second time he saved my life was. "Uh," I objected. "That second one doesn't even count. It's your fault my life was in danger in the first place. If anything, poisoning me cancels out the first time you saved me."

"No, the fact that I bothered to give you an antidote after poisoning you cancels out the entire incident," Kankurou said, dropping his hands from behind his head. "The point is I'm not obligated."

I didn't say anything as we kept walking so Kankurou spoke again. "Hey, where's Akamaru?"

"Oh yeah, that 'training' that Hana took him on yesterday, remember that?" I asked, groaning mentally as I was reminded of another inconvenience to my day. When Kankurou nodded I continued. "Well it turns out that while they were out in the forest, one of her comrades from her squad found her and told her that they had to leave immediately for an important mission." I sighed. "It was Akamaru's choice to go with her or not, but he knew what my mission was for the week and probably didn't want to get bored." The part I didn't say out loud was that he was probably also considering the fact that Kankurou would more likely fall for my charming good looks and colorful personality if a dog wasn't watching us the whole time – a stupid conclusion if you ask me, but at least it was thoughtful.

"Ha! I didn't know that even your dog got sick of you," Kankurou laughed at the irony of it… "So much for 'man's best friend'."

"He's not sick of _me_," I said quickly.

"Oh so now I'm the boring one?" Kankurou asked disbelievingly.

"Well I didn't _ask_ for the mission to escort you around," I said defensively, even though I knew it was pointless saying it. As if to prove me right, I heard Kankurou mutter to himself from ahead.

"Might as well have…"

I chose that moment to pretend my hearing sucked. It sounded like he was finally catching on, but I wasn't sure yet if that was a good thing or not.

"Speaking of boring, is there anything to do in this village?" Kankurou asked, pausing and looking over his shoulder. He waited until I was beside him before he started walking again.

"Well what exactly do you spend your time doing in Suna?" I asked in return. "A sandy village can't be more interesting than an entire forest."

"There's plenty to do," he said defensively. "Suna has the best training facilities out of any of the hidden villages."

"The best?" I asked sceptically. "And do you have statistics to back that up?"

"Haven't you noticed that most of our shinobi _become_ shinobi at a younger age? And you must not have been paying attention whenever the Suna genin raped your asses during the chuunin exams." He was smiling triumphantly because what he was saying was basically true.

"It's a matter of opinion," I said anyway. He wasn't going to get me to admit to anything. "But training isn't the only way to have fun you know," I said, skipping in front and turning to face him. Without stopping I turned around again and took off at a run.

"Hey!" He called, chasing after me. "Don't just try to ditch me."

"I knew you'd follow," I yelled over my shoulder, speeding up as I rounded a corner, heading for the less crowded back roads. I glanced over my right shoulder to make sure he was still behind me but I jumped and almost tripped over my own feet when his voice came from my other side.

"It's not like I have a choice," he said grudgingly, but he flashed me a grin before speeding ahead and jumping onto the next rooftop. I sighed and followed suit, trying to catch up and regain my lead.

"So where are we going anyway?" he yelled, laughing from up ahead.

"The Hyuuga mansion," I yelled back. That made him stop… In fact I practically ran past him before I stopped as well.

"Why do we have to go there?" he asked as if the very idea put a horrible taste in his mouth.

"Shino and I usually go there in the mornings to see if we can rescue Hinata from her father. I'm going to have to tell them what my mission is for the week," I explained as Kankurou stood there and watched me, reluctant to go further. "We had plans for today and you're not invited so I have to cancel."

"What, am I not good enough for your kiddie get-togethers?" Kankurou smirked, walking over to me at the edge of the building we were currently on.

"Well I doubt you'd be interested and I don't think they want to be stuck with you as well," I said, crossing my arms and smirking back.

"Well that's not very hospitable," Kankurou spoke as if I was a child who had done something wrong. "As an honoured guest, shouldn't you be trying to include me in as many things as possible?"

"Well fine," I laughed. "Just remember you were the one who insisted."

We continued our run across the rooftops, only slower and closer together. When we finally reached the Hyuuga complex I jumped right onto the roof of the main building and ran across it to jump down into the garden where Shino and Hinata were already waiting for me.

"Yo," I said, giving them a short wave. They were at the edge of a stream and Hinata was crouched on her heels and Shino was standing with his hands in his pockets.

"G-good morning, Kiba," Hinata said in her quiet voice as she stood and faced me. Shino just nodded. When Kankurou jumped down beside me Hinata gave a startled squeak and almost fell into the water. "Wha-what's he d-doing here?"

"I'm being forced to follow him around all week," Kankurou explained before I had a chance. "Don't mind me."

"Sorry guys, but I'm stuck with him," I apologized, rubbing the back of my neck. "I know I should have probably brought him in through the gate but that would have taken too long and I like to avoid Hiashi when I can... Never know when he's going to show up in this place."

"Are you not coming today then?" Shino asked over his collar.

"Actually, Kankurou says he wants to come," I said, grinning at my teammates knowingly.

"Oh," Hinata said softly. "I didn't think…"

"So what are you guys doing anyway?" Kankurou asked cutting her off, which kind of annoyed me.

"You invited yourself, and you don't even know what we're doing?" Shino asked, hiding his smile beneath his collar.

"How do you know Kiba didn't invite me?" he asked, trying to be smart with Shino's assumption.

"I didn't," I interjected, earning a sharp look from Kankurou.

"I don't think that Kiba…" Shino said, pausing on my name as if making note of the fact that Kankurou had used it as well, "would want inviting you to be his idea."

"Huh?" Kankurou and I said at the same time.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked a little annoyed. I think I know what it meant: it meant I didn't want Kankurou to think my friends were weird and I also wouldn't want anything to slip out… though it's not like we've _ever_ talked about it.

"What?" Kankurou smirked. "Do you think I'm going to piss off your friends? I doubt they'd blame you for that anyway, mutt."

"Back to the 'mutt'," I mumbled. "Can we get going?"

* * *

"What exactly _are_ we doing?" Kankurou asked, yet again. Now we had arrived at our destination and Shino had just knocked on the front door of a simple little house.

"A few months ago we met Kaede obaa-chan when she was carrying her groceries home," I told him as we waited for an answer at the door. "We offered to help her out and she invited us in for a snack. Ever since we've been coming around every few weeks to see if she needs help and she gives us more of her muffins. They're honestly the bet muffins you've ever tasted."

"Muffins?" Kankurou asked disbelievingly. "You're not serious. The big event of the day is going to eat some old woman's _muffins_?"

"You were the one that wanted to come," I reminded him. "We can leave if you want."

"No, I'm all for the free muffins," Kankurou said as if he found the whole thing very amusing. "I just can't believe that you guys go out of your way—"

"You shu-shouldn't judge us s-ss-so quickly," Hinata stuttered, cutting him off this time – I was very proud of her.

"It's not about the muffins," Shino said, knocking again.

"But you've got to admit, they are good muffins," I said, smiling and nudging Hinata who nodded and smiled back.

"Okay, just stop saying 'muffins' and I might be able to take this more seriously," Kankurou said, choking back a giggle as the door finally opened.

"Oh, hello dears! I'm so sorry, I was out in the back," a short, plump old woman said, smiling warmly up at us. "You can come out and join me. Please, come on through."

She led us through her tiny house, which smelt like lavender and chicken noodle soup, out into her back yard. She had laid out a table cloth over a lone picnic table and there was already a small basket of muffins on top. By now she was always already prepared before we stopped by. She rarely even let us help out anymore, saying with a smile, "I'm not old enough that I can't take care of myself – and I won't have you kids taking that away from me just yet."

Today seemed to be different however because before any of us sat down, she noticed Kankurou. "Oh, and who might this young man be?" she asked.

"I'm Kankurou from Suna. Sorry for the intrusion," he said, introducing himself with a politeness I didn't think he had. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"As a matter of fact, there is something," Kaede smiled, unable to remove her eyes from Kankurou. I didn't really blame her. "I have some old furniture I wanted to get rid of before I bring home some replacements. You look strong enough for the job."

Kankurou looked at Shino and me at this and smiled arrogantly. He quickly switched his smile to a kind one as he looked back at Kaede, "I'd be happy to help."

"Wonderful! Well have a muffin first and then I'll show you what needs to be done. The rest of you can have a break today," she said, smiling at us as if giving us a break was rare.

"We can help too," I said, not liking how she acted as if we weren't strong enough to handle it.

"Don't be silly," she said, waving me off. "You do so much for me already. It's only a few things anyway."

"We really don't m-mind," Hinata said. "We came all this way."

"Oh alright, since you're insisting," she smiled, leading all of us into her house.

A few things turned out to be almost her whole living room and a few heavy items from upstairs. It took a while and Kaede insisted on using Kankurou for most of the heavier items – he kept a straight face through all of it, except when Kaede wasn't looking. Shino, Hinata and I snickered as we watched him struggle but I almost had fell over when he got hot enough that he took off his sweater, revealing a tight, dark purple t-shirt underneath. When he reached the point where he was boiling enough to take off his t-shirt as well, I was practically drooling. Shino had to kick me to make me snap out of it.

Kaede seemed to notice that Kankurou was getting tired when this happened so before he went back upstairs she recruited me to help him out. "Kiba-kun, why don't you help Kankurou-kun out with the last few things upstairs?"

"Uh, sure," I hesitated momentarily before hurrying after him.

"I don't need your help, just for the record," Kankurou said on our way upstairs.

"Whatever you say," I exhaled, watching him as he walked up the stairs ahead of me, shirtless. "I'm not going to say no to obaa-chan."

"Heh, I know what you mean." We got into a room upstairs and Kankurou pointed at a few things. "She wants those taken out. Let's start with this one." It was a wooden dresser and it looked heavy. Kankurou reached underneath for a good spot to hold on and I couldn't help myself as I watched his muscles ripple as he started to lift it. "Are you going to help or not?" he scowled, thankfully too occupied to notice my drooling.

"Right," I said, going over and lifting my side of the dresser. It _was_ heavy, and I was the one that had to back out of the door with it and down the stairs. When we finally got it outside, managing to put it down without squishing our toes, and headed back inside, I said, "This time, you get to walk down the stairs backwards."

"Heh, such a wimp," Kankurou smirked, flashing me one of those looks. I didn't like showing weakness in front of him, but I think it would be worse if I fell on my ass with a piece of furniture on top of me.

We managed to get the rest outside without incident and we were rewarded with cold drinks and more muffins. Unfortunately, Kankurou chose to put his shirts back on then, but he did leave the hooded sweater open for a change. All of us were chattering about what happened, laughing at the look on my face when I had almost dropped an arm chair that Kankurou had managed to grab hold of as he was walking by. And we were also joking about Kankurou's expressions of being recruited for all the heavy things when Kaeda wasn't paying attention. Despite the initial resentment for having to all be stuck together, we were getting along really well.

The first couple of times I went to grab a muffin, Kankurou would take the same one I was clearly reaching for. Whenever I huffed and gave him a look he simply tried not to smile and said "I saved your life" and ate it. I let the first few slide but then it was getting annoying because he was eating twice as many as everyone else. The next time he reached for the same one I did, I tried to grab it but was too slow.

Hinata and Shino had stopped eating after two or three, but I wasn't about to give in to Kankurou. Finally, there was only one left, but when I went to grab it I suddenly felt my arms being pulled up above my head by a tingling, electric grip. I knew instantly that it was Kankurou's chakra strings and turned to glare at him.

"I'm sorry. With how you were dressed, I thought you were Karasu," Kankurou smiled at me, while he rested his chin on his free hand.

"Seriously, I fucking hate you," I growled.

"I saved your life," he said quickly.

"That was two years ago!" I pretty much yelled. "Stop using it as an excuse to take my muffins!" I could practically feel Shino trying not to laugh beside me as he covered his face with his hand.

"Heh, you make it sound so lame when you put it that way," Kankurou smirked, releasing my hands and standing from the picnic table. I glared at him as he stretched and walked away. Making sure he wasn't going to double back at the last minute, I quickly picked the last muffin off the table and devoured it.

We all thanked Kaede for the snack and left together when the sun was setting, which was making everything an orangey-red. Hinata spoke more freely in front of Kankurou and Shino said a few sentences longer than three words. Kankurou was still jesting a lot, especially to make fun of me, but it didn't bother me as much.

"I'm starving," Kankurou complained, holding his stomach miserably.

"You just ate five muffins!" I said in disbelief. We had all been full when we'd left Kaede's house.

"Yeah, six. But that was a work-out, man! I need protein."

"How about the Korean BBQ place?" Shino suggested.

"Ah! Yes!" Kankurou exclaimed. "That place has good food."

"Ha, did you just give a compliment to something in Konoha?" I asked, smirking and hearing a giggle from Hinata. Kankurou glared at both of us.

"I'm just being polite for my brother's sake," he said defensively.

"Right," Shino muttered, making both me and Hinata laugh. Kankurou gave in and smiled as well.

"Korean BBQ then," I said, just to be sure everyone agreed. When no one argued we headed straight for the restaurant.

* * *

In the end, we all split our bills, but I insisted on paying for Kankurou since he was sort of my guest and had paid for lunch yesterday. It didn't take much convincing, so after we all finished paying, Kankurou excused himself for the bathroom and we said we'd wait for him outside. Hinata and Shino decided to head back toward the Hyuuga mansion together since it was already well past dark and Hiashi didn't like Hinata staying out late.

When I was waiting for Kankurou, the worst thing possible happened: Ino showed up.

"Heeey there, lover boy," she cooed, coming straight up to me. "It sucks that you have to babysit that Suna Ninja or else you could have walked Hinata home yourself."

I huffed loudly and didn't respond.

"Ready to go?" Kankurou asked, suddenly beside me. I jumped, hoping he hadn't heard what Ino had said, which might have made him jump to conclusions.

"Most definitely," I answered, giving Ino a quick frustrated look before taking off in the other direction with Kankurou. As if we'd agreed out loud, we simultaneously jumped up onto the roofs to get out of the crowd. "Thanks," I said.

"No problemo," Kankurou said. "Last time you said you wanted to be rescued so I figured I'd do it right this time." We shared a smile before he continued. "So what did she want?"

"You mean you didn't hear?" I asked.

"Well I don't have canine hearing like you," he said. "I just heard something about you being a crappy friend because you're babysitting me."

I laughed. "Yeah well, Hinata and Shino understand. But Ino just doesn't know when to let things go. Besides, this mission isn't so bad. I'm getting used to you."

"Yeah, you too mutt," Kankurou chuckled. "Turns out you get used to the dog smell after being around it all day."

I growled at him, but playfully this time, and we both ended up laughing together and joking around until we got back to Kankurou's temporary apartment.

We kind of stood awkwardly in the hallway upstairs, unsure of how to say goodnight for some reason. We opened our mouths at the same time, but I managed to speak first.

"I'll be here, same time tomorrow," I said. "I've thought of somewhere interesting to take you. I'll prove to you that Konoha is pretty awesome."

"Okay mutt, but you'll have a hard time topping those muffins," he smirked and I chuckled.

"See you later then," I said, taking off as he said good bye as well.

* * *

**Thursday**

"So what lame-ass place are we going to today?" Kankurou yelled after me as we jumped over the rooftops again. Unfortunately, he had decided to go back to disguising his face with war paint today. However, he _had_ chosen to wear something completely different from his normal attire. He had replaced his long sleeves and dark sweats with cropped pants and a short-sleeved hoodie. I appreciated the fact that this meant there was more skin to drool over.

"The Forest of Death," I yelled back with a satisfied smile, expecting him to falter and ask more questions. Instead he seemed to speed up and changed course for the training grounds. Apparently he knew what I was talking about. Or at least he thought he did.

Shino and I had accidentally found a little alcove in the forest once when we were trying to act all brave. Akamaru and I had dug a tunnel under the fence surrounding the forest, trying to get as far in as we could. We came up into a little alcove that was easy to defend and hard to find. Shino was following behind us in our make-shift tunnel and when he came out after me I decided it would be our new hang out. It took some convincing to get Hinata to come and check it out, but she still doesn't like going there so it's usually just me and Shino.

Once I was done glaring at Kankurou's back I gave myself a burst of speed so I could catch up with him. Just as we were reaching the training grounds I managed to catch up and pass him, changing course slightly so that I was headed in the direction of our secret entrance. I ignored Kankurou's remarks of catching up to me and finally slowed to a stop when I could see the bushes that hid the entrance to the tunnel. Shino had set up a trap so that anyone who wandered too close to it would have a sudden nasty attack from a bunch of mosquitoes. They were trained to ignore us but I didn't know how they would feel about Kankurou.

"So are we going in or not?" Kankurou asked when he stopped beside me. He was facing the forest, searching for a way in that _wasn't_ booby trapped.

"We're going in over there," I said, pointing to the bushes. "There's a tunnel that goes underground, but unless you want to be eaten alive by bugs you better move fast and go in ahead of me." I figured the blood-suckers were more likely to leave him alone once he was underground if I went in after him. He looked at me like he didn't know whether to believe or trust me.

"You're kidding, right?" he asked. "This is some prank you got Shino to set up, isn't it?"

"It's not a prank, it's a security feature," I clarified. "And I can't guarantee your safety," I added, smirking at him.

"Che, yeah right," Kankurou chuckled, "Like I need you to protect me anyway."

"Okay then big shot," I said. "Why don't you lead the way?"

"Don't mind if I do," he said as he tore ahead and into the tunnel before I could stop him. I hurried after him and saw a cloud of mosquitoes come out from a nearby bush. As I got close, they ignored me and started to follow Kankurou. Just as I was getting into the tunnel myself, the mosquitoes rushed back past me and out of sight. I wasn't quite sure what that meant, but I continued forward anyway. I saw a gloved hand reach down to help me as I reached the exit. I grabbed hold and Kankurou pulled me out with a clever grin on his face. "Looks like those bugs don't find me all that appetizing after all," he said.

"What did you do?" I asked, turning my head slightly and squinting at him, curious and confused.

"Well let's just say that after my first run-in with your buggy friend, I found my attitude towards bug bites was a lot less fond" he explained as he sat down. "I started mixing a powerful bug repellent into my war paint that seems to do the trick. And humans can't even smell it."

"Now that you mention it, you do smell more foul than usual," I teased, sitting down beside him.

"Che, yeah right," he chuckled, looking away. "You probably love my cedar smell."

I blushed but thankfully he wasn't looking. "Maybe," I said, "If it wasn't smothered in poison and make-up."

"Not make-up," he sighed factually, clearly tired of correcting people. "And you're one to talk with your own face-paint."

"Try tattoo," I said, correcting him this time. "I'm a little cooler than you that way."

"Sure, if you think tattooing a baby is cool," Kankurou smirked.

"We don't tattoo babies, genius," I said. "It's the mark we give our clan members when they start training to be ninja."

I was pulling up the grass at my feet as I waited for the typical sarcastic remark, but when I didn't receive one I glanced at Kankurou. He was watching a couple of squirrels chasing each other near the top of a tree and I hoped that I was the only one who felt an awkward silence coming on.

"You know what I think?" I blurted quickly.

"That I'm way more awesome than any of your other friends?" Kankurou asked.

"Besides that," I said dismissively, hastily picking a smile that may or may not have meant I was kidding. "I think social constructs are troublesome and unnecessary."

"Any social construct in particular?" Kankurou asked, as if he knew where I was going.

"Yeah," I took a deep breath. "Relationships. Why is it that there's no issue if, say Shikamaru had a thing for Ino, but if he had a thing for your sister there would be a huge controversy over the fact that they're from different villages."

Kankurou laughed. "_If_ he liked my sister? Give me a break. They might as well have put up a billboard for it. And I haven't gotten any disapproving vibes."

I laughed too. "Yeah I suppose that was a bad example. It may have been different if our clans weren't allied."

"Well we're not currently allied yet," Kankurou pointed out. "Technically."

"True," I nodded, leaning back to lie on the grass and closing my eyes against the sunlight sneaking through the trees. "But we're as good as."

"Thankfully," Kankurou breathed as he moved to lie down to my right.

I smiled without opening my eyes and decided to take a chance. "A better example would be between the Kazekage and Naruto." I held my breath as I waited for his reaction.

"Yeah, I don't think a lot of people would be thrilled about a Kage being lovers with a lowly genin from another village," he laughed. "…wouldn't be surprised if the Hokage had something to say about it either." I relaxed and chuckled as well; interested by the fact that Kankurou saw it from that angle. I hoped that meant he saw no issue with them both being men.

"There were these two guys... back in Suna. They were, like... _together_." Kankurou said hesitantly, not like he had a problem with it, just as if he were nervous about saying it outright. "Anyway, my dad was the Kazekage back then, and when the rumors started floating around, he sent the lower ranking one out on an A class mission. He didn't make it back with the rest of his team. No one really talks about it now, but I think the general assumption is that my dad had ordered the team captain to 'dispatch' him. The other guy," Kankurou paused and the air around us seemed heavy. "They found him in his quarters. He..."

It was silent between us for a long time. The wind hardly reached inside the little alcove, and there was enough sunlight to keep it warm. I could hear crickets and a bird or two, but the forest maintained its mostly ominous feel.

"Do you remember their names?" My voice sounded out of place.

"No," he sighed. "I never learned them. I was young. My dad tried to hush it up. But I overheard some kunnoichi talking about it once." He paused. "Just another good reason my dad's not around anymore," he grunted as he pushed himself up and stood. He offered me his hand but I just stared at it for a moment, unmoving.

"I don't think I'd be much stronger if that happened to me," I muttered.

Kankurou smirked, which surprised me this time. "Well I guess it's a good thing I'm an awesome ninja." He had a cocky grin on his face and still had his hand before me. I grabbed it and he pulled me up.

"Why's that?" I smirked back, feigning ignorance, regardless of the fact that our faces were inches apart.

"Because I'll always return, dummy."

My heart was pounding. We were staring at each other unblinkingly. Kankurou's choice of words didn't _actually_ admit to anything. He said "return" meaning return home, obviously. But my heart was an almost painful reminder that it could have meant 'return to you'.

We both broke eye contact and jumped at the same time and got in defensive positions, facing the entrance to the tunnel. Someone was clearly shimmying along inside. When Shino's hooded head appeared we eased our stances.

"Sorry," Shino muttered, climbing out. "I thought you might be here. The Hokage is looking for you."

* * *

_Have I mentioned yet that all of your reviews are fabulous? (Just like KankuxKiba) XD_


	6. Executing Desire

_A quick little note: A lot of my scenes have been inspired by fanart and this chapter in particular has a sceen from one of my favorite KankuxKiba pics. If you're interested, you can find my deviant art account under the same penname and look under my Kankukiba folder. Or just search for 'Kankuro with soda for Kiba' for the scene in this chapter. ^_^  
_

**

* * *

KANKUROU - Thursday**

**6 – Executing Desire**

_Executing – carrying out or performing an action_

_Desire – Expect and wish; want strongly  
_

_Want – Feel or have desire for  
_

As we headed back to the Hokage's office, my insides still felt fluttery. Something might have happened in that alcove if Shino hadn't shown up when he did. I decided for now that it was a good thing my heart only just started to beat faster when Kiba heard the noise from the tunnel. My quick reflexes had been my savior and I knew that Kiba would have taken my pounding heart to be adrenaline from being startled by his friend.

As my mind went over and over all the details of the alcove faster than it went over battle strategies, I knew that I was in way over my head. Tsunade was already into her debriefing before I realized I was in the Hokage's office and still spaced out. I noticed that my sister was there too with Shikamaru.

"...Gaara should be here tomorrow morning so I need you to be on your best behavior from now until after the new treaty is signed. There can be no slip-ups. The Elders are just waiting for an opportunity to call it all off. I'm going to ask that you retire to your apartments before sunset tonight and get an early start in the morning so you can greet your brother with the proper protocol. Understood?"

"Understood," we all chorused.

"Then you are dismissed."

We all ambled out of the office, Temari and Shikamaru not waiting around.

My head was still on overload so I made a quick stop into the bathroom to wash my face. It didn't help. I sighed and wiped off the last of my face paint because so far it had only made my face feel warmer. Feeling slightly better but still like my mind was in overdrive, I slipped back into the hall where Kiba was waiting. He looked at a loss for words at first, unable to take his eyes from my face and making me feel a little uncomfortable.

"So do you wanna head home now, or…?" Kiba asked tentatively beside me. After the discussion in the grove and atmosphere that went with it, I was beginning to believe that this wasn't all in my head.

"Not yet. The sun's still up," I grinned like that should be obvious. "Know anywhere we can kick back and watch it fall?"

"You want to watch the sun set with me?" he asked with a look on his face that said he found the idea odd.

"Well when you put it like that it sounds stupid," I confirmed. "Got any better ideas?"

"No," he laughed. "Don't worry. I know just the spot. Follow me." He took off and I followed eagerly. Watching the sun set together really hadn't been what I was going for when I suggested it, but after Kiba threw it out there I became full of anticipation. I had been holding my breath without realizing it until he agreed to go.

We stopped at a corner store on the way and grabbed a couple of ice cold colas and then Kiba led me to a high hill on the far side of Konoha from the mountain. He plopped down on the grass with a huge grin on his face and I rolled my eyes at him with a smile, sitting down beside him.

"Wow," I said, genuinely surprised. You could see everything from where we sat – the green rooftops of the village, the training grounds, the forest and a clear view of the late Hokages faces engraved in the mountain side.

"Yeah," Kiba sighed, cracking his drink open and taking a swig. He had his knees pulled up and apart, and he rested an elbow on each knee, holding his drink loosely between them. You could see his mesh undershirt peeking out from the sleeves of his t-shirt. The undershirt's sleeves were a little longer, just covering his biceps, which looked pretty great from where I was sitting. I imagined he'd look even better if there was no t-shirt overtop. When I realized I was undressing him with my eyes, I hastily looked away, cracking my own can and taking a sip.

"Is this a Konoha hotspot or another one of your secret hangouts?" I half teased, taking another gulp of my drink and earning a chuckle.

"Well, most villagers know of it, but not many bother coming all the way out here very often," he said, scanning the horizon. "Adults are too busy and consequently the kids don't get to come here either since it isn't close enough for their parents to keep an eye on them.

"Mm," I grunted, chugging back my pop. "Too bad for them, great for us I guess." I glanced sideways at Kiba and he smiled. He gulped down the rest of his drink and crushed the can, putting it down beside him, and then proceeding to pull off his shoes and place them to the side as well. He then heaved a sigh and leaned back until he was lying in the grass. I put my empty can down too and followed suit. As I shifted to remove my shoes and lie down, I took the opportunity to move a little closer without being too obvious. I casually put my arms behind my head, pretending I didn't notice the fact that my leg was on fire where it touched Kiba's – and that fire didn't exactly stay put either. He didn't shift away though and I was pretty sure he even shifted a bit closer.

We lay there for a while, quietly. It was comfortable and easy, and our closeness was reassuring instead of awkward. I shifted a few times to stay comfy, and so did he, but neither of us tried to get closer. Eventually I had one foot resting on the other knee and put one hand behind my head and the other on my belly. Kiba had his arm between us and I was very aware of it. I thought of dropping mine there as well and seeing what happened and as soon as I thought that, my heart was pounding. I was sure that Kiba had noticed the pounding in my chest with his canine senses, and I secretly envied him, wishing I could know if his was racing too. I slowly started to slip my hand down across my abdomen, hesitating after every move. The air between us grew tense and everything seemed to be moving agonizingly slow. I finally let my hand drop to the ground right next to his, and I held my breath.

After what seemed like an eternity, I felt his fingers twitch, and mine did so as well without my consent. My head was pounding and I could think of nothing else. Just as I was going to go for it and make the move, my concentration was broken by the sound of paws on grass and heavy panting.

I lifted my head and bent my arm and hand away from Kiba's to hold myself up, sourly regretting that I had chickened out. I looked around for the interruption as Kiba sat up too.

"Akamaru!" Kiba yelled with joy and surprise at seeing his best friend. The dog ran up to him barking and pushed him back to the ground, licking him all over his face. "Whoa buddy! What're you doing here, boy? Huh? What're you doing here? Back from your mission already?" he crooned, ruffling the dog's fur and ears, all the while laughing.

Watching them, I smiled at the irony of hating myself for being jealous of a dog. The dog was probably even allowed in his room while—I stopped myself from finishing that thought.

Akamaru finally got off him and looked at me. He barked as if to say hello and then padded around us in a full circle. The two of us chuckled and I pulled myself to my feet. Akamaru stopped where I had been sitting and Kiba looked up at me, unsure of what I was doing. I bent down to pick up my empty can with a grunt and explained, "Might as well head back now." I nudged him with my foot. "The Hokage wants me in by sunset and, considering what's at stake, I better do as she says." For me, what was at stake was the possibility of me and Kiba. And now the moment was gone and I didn't feel up to sticking around and waiting for the next one, now that his nindog had returned.

"Right," Kiba agreed, lifting a hand up to me. I hesitated because it was the same one I'd been trying to hold before, but then I grasped it and pulled him to his feet. He stood up facing me, and he was close. We lingered there for a minute, still holding hands and watching the other with anticipation. Our trance was broken when Akamaru barked at us to hurry up, as he was already heading down the hill. Damn.

"Right," I said, clearing my throat awkwardly.

"Shall we?" Kiba said, just as awkwardly, grabbing his shoes and crushed can.

"Yeah," I said, picking up my own shoes and avoiding his gaze. Halfway down the hill I finally glanced at him to find he had glanced at me too. He smiled gently and looked down to watch his feet. I returned the smile as I looked back ahead at Akarmaru. Our hands brushed and my insides tumbled. I tentatively slid my ring finger between his and they hooked ever so slightly before slipping away from one another.

Akamaru barked a couple times and ran back, charging between us and doing circles around us, enjoying himself all the while. We both laughed and Kiba pretended to lunge at him, making Akamaru jump back cautiously. We laughed again and came to a stop at the stony road, tugging on our shoes before continuing. The trek back to my apartment was windless and warm and the whole time we were teasing Akamaru and each other. When we reached the building we stopped at the entrance and Kiba hesitated.

"Uh, want me to…?" Kiba asked awkwardly, gesturing inside but looking at his dog.

"Nah, it's cool. I'll uh, see you same time tomorrow?" I said just as awkwardly, scratching the back of my head.

"Yeah, see you," Kiba half waved as he backed away, slowly turning to face forward to head off with Akamaru, who was wagging his tail unrelentingly.

I sighed and went inside.

* * *

**Friday**

We were walking down the street together and it was hazy and dark. I didn't know what he was saying but that wasn't important. It was all about our proximity. Our hands brushed like the day before, and my chest felt light. My heart wasn't pounding this time. In fact it felt nonexistent. I willed myself to take his hand, but my body was not within my control.

We turned into a dark alley and somehow there was a sharp beam of sunlight glaring off a single spot on the wall.

"Kiba, I…" I tried, but couldn't say anymore. He looked at me for a moment and nothing happened. Then I finally slid my fingers through his and he tightened the grip. He leaned back against the wall, part of his face bathed in sunlight and his eyes calculating. I stepped closer to him and he whispered against my cheek.

"Is this real?"

Instead of answering, my eyes darted back and forth between his as if I was trying to figure that out for myself. I tried to lean in, but I still couldn't control anything. My vision blurred and I tried to keep focus but my mind seemed determined to fade away from the hallway in my Suna home. I wondered briefly if anyone else was around even though I was desperately trying to just concentrate on Kiba's expression and moving my body. I hoped no one would find us hidden just beyond the front door in my Konoha apartment.

His lips were parted ever so slightly and his eyes were nervous but intense. He slid his hand up around my neck until his fingertips were in my hair. I finally, _finally_ started to lean in towards him but then I was yanked away by knowledge that someone was banging on the front door. My head turned and I stared at it, freaking out on the inside. I pulled my pillow over top of my head to block out the noise.

"Kankurou!" Temari bellowed. "Kankurou, get up!"

I groaned, slipping farther under the covers, willing myself to slip back into the hallway, as I tried to refocus on Kiba who was still pinned against the wall. We smirked at each other knowingly because we were within my bedroom now. And the door was closed.

But then Temari was banging on my bedroom door and I growled as she pulled me out of my reverie. I tried desperately to get back to Kiba who was waiting anxiously between my heated body and the wall. With a last attempt at closing the distance between us properly, I heard my door bust open and I jumped back in fear of being caught, driving myself out of bed in the process.

I groaned a long, frustrated groan from the floor.

"Get up, you lazy ass!" Temari said, pushing me with her foot.

"Really, Temari?" I huffed in disbelief, and groaned again.

"The sun rose a couple hours ago," my sister said, padding back over to my door. "Gaara will be here soon. You need to get ready." And then my door shut roughly.

I whined a little before pushing myself up off the floor. My disappointment quickly changed to excitement which made me suddenly awake and ready to go, but then changed just as quickly to anxiousness. All of these emotions were caused by thoughts of encounters with Kiba. My heart was beating heavily – but not fast – for the whole time I was showering and getting dressed. How would I greet Kiba today? How would I act? What should I do? Pretend like nothing was going on? Or stop acting and just go with it?

I'd never felt so nervous and I hated myself for feeling so vulnerable. I would be useless if I had to go on a mission right now, being so distracted and all. A mission had never caused me to feel this way though. The closest I'd ever come to having my insides crushed, namely my heart – the most vital organ – was now. And I was more scared than if I had been in the middle of a battle against an opponent who had a clear shot at my chest. No medical ninja could fix this.

"You'd better be up!" Temari called through my door, knocking again. "It's almost time to go."

I huffed over to the door and yanked it open. "Okay, _mom_," I growled sarcastically, but instantly bit my tongue when I came face to face with a startled Kiba. "Uhm, ahem, uh," I muttered intelligently, causing his expression to turn into amusement.

"Smooth," he chuckled at me.

"And you're here because?" I asked, trying to cover my embarrassment with annoyance. I'd only managed to pull on a fresh pair of boxers at this point.

"'Same time tomorrow,' remember?" he said, seeming a little unsure now.

"Oh, right. Yeah." I stumbled over my words, opening my door wider as a gesture that he could come in as I turned and went back to pull on my usual garb. He decided to lean on my door post instead.

"So what's so special about this room?" he asked, looking around as I shrugged on my shirt.

"Huh?" I was just owning with the word choice this morning.

"You wouldn't let me in here before…?" he explained.

"Oh, uh… I didn't really know you then," I tried, strapping my puppet scrolls to my back. Truthfully I'd just been overreacting because I was so unfamiliar with how he was making me feel. Letting him into my bedroom then would have been nerve-racking.

He nodded, accepting it, and he followed me back into the hallway where Temari was pulling on her shoes while chatting with Shikamaru. She was giggling. I shared a knowing look with Kiba and we both smiled.

"Let's get this over with," Shikamaru said; an uninterested statement as always, but this time with a smile at my sister. "I was told that Gaara is only another fifteen minutes away." He glanced at his watch. "And that was ten minutes ago."

"Better get going," I breathed, and we all filed out.

I still felt a little groggy and knew I must look baked due to my stubbornness to wake up properly. I longed to melt back into my dream and felt myself dozing off mid-step.

"Whoa dude," Kiba said, grabbing my arm and putting a hand on my back to keep me upright. "What time did you go to bed?"

"Uh, I woke up a lot in the night," I lied. "Temari's wakeup call didn't exactly help."

"Man, me too," he laughed. "Hana was ruthless this morning trying to get me up. She stole Akamaru for morning training again to piss me off." I glanced around and sure enough there was no dog on Kiba's heals. "He should be back by lunch though."

"Hmn," I grunted, still refusing complete lucidity. Kiba hadn't removed his hands from my arm and back yet and I took advantage of that, sagging a little.

"Whoa, okay," Kiba grunted, hoisting my arm up around his shoulder. I played into my weariness a bit _too_ much as an excuse to keep and arm around him. Eventually, we'd worked ourselves into a casual gait in which my arm was still around his shoulders and his hand had crept a little further around my waist. I turned my head a little as if to look sideways, and took in a deep breath of his hair. It smelt awesome.

I looked back ahead at my sister and her future lover and I knew that Kiba was smiling. I guess that meant he'd noticed. I smiled too.

When we reached the base of the stairs at the Hokage's tower, I removed my arm from Kiba's shoulders casually, deciding it would probably be wise to do so now.

"You good?" he asked briefly, making sure I wasn't going to fall on my ass when I started up the stairs.

"Please," I looked over my shoulder at him with a mischievous smile on my lips. "I can handle a set of stairs."

"Hm," Kiba smiled and pouted at the same time and it was adorable. I looked away quickly so I didn't turn starry-eyed and headed up first.

Once we were in the office, it was all business and hardly any time for sidelong glances at the rugged, dark ninja beside me. We arrived just in time to get into place before my youngest sibling strolled into the room. He brought a presence with him that was both ominous and extravagant. He sported the traditional Kazekage robes of white and blue and I felt myself well up with pride that my distant, tortured younger brother had managed to climb so high in such a short time. I knew the Uzumaki boy had a lot to do with it, and I was willing to bet my time with Kiba that Gaara wished his hyperactive friend could have shared the experience with him.

The following proceedings were boring and Kiba jabbed me a few times to keep me awake. Luckily no one else seemed to notice. The elders went over the outline for the treaty, clearly unhappy, and the Kages discussed it at length. When Gaara indicated he wanted his siblings input, he motioned to Temari and then me, and we both convincingly said our rehearsed lines in turn. Finally they permitted us all a lunch break and decided that they would sign immediately afterwards, once everyone had returned. This gave a customary yet unnecessary amount time for the Kages to think it over alone one last time before committing to a decision.

Everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as we stepped back out into the fresh air. We'd been cooped up in there for hours and my stomach was starting to growl.

"Let's grab something from the deli," Temari suggested to me and our escorts. "Quick and easy." Everyone agreed and Shikamaru led the way. I ended up ordering two of the sandwich with the most possible meat on it and Kiba eyed it desirously and ordered the same. The four of us took a seat at a picnic table just outside and dug in without leaving much room for conversation. When I was inhaling the last of my second sandwich, I was feeling pleasantly full.

"Ahh," I sighed, finishing first and leaning back. "That hit the spot." Temari agreed with an 'mm' when she finished her first and only sandwich next.

"I want to take a look in the bookstore before we have to head back," Temari said, getting up. "We still have half an hour."

"Okay," I said, stretching a little. She looked at Shikamaru expectantly and he rolled his eyes and stood up with the rest of his lunch. She hooked a hand through his bent arm as they walked away. "I'm just going to use the bathroom quick." I said to Kiba, standing up as he nodded and I headed back inside.

After I washed my hands I was heading for the exit, but stopped in my tracks when I saw the worst possible thing through the deli window. I know it was the worst possible thing because my heart felt like it was tearing silently in two.

Kiba was still at the picnic table, and he was done eating. And Ino was straddling the bench facing him, pushed up as close to him as she possibly could be. She was smiling as if she'd said a clever joke, and Kiba was smiling too. He looked innocent and interested and he was saying something, but I was no lip-reader. She laughed a little and shoved him playfully, leaning in close and saying something as well. She had an all knowing look on her face and Kiba's face was flushed. He didn't look like he wanted to be saved this time at all.

I'd had it. I wasn't going to stick around and watch this. Kiba had been an ass all week; playing with my emotions and making me think things that I shouldn't have been thinking. And he was now unknowingly rubbing it in my face as he flirted with Ino. I wanted to get away. I needed to get away. I had to get out of this suffocating deli and far, far away.

I burst through the exit with a speed I saved for when I was running for my life. I hardly heard Kiba cry out in surprise and call after me frantically because my head was pounding.

"Huh? Kankurou? Kankurou! Kankurou! Come back! Where are you going? Hey! Kankurou!" It was all a jumbled mess of sounds to me. I ran through the streets and passed the poorly guarded gates. I tried to leave my pounding head and straining chest behind the further I went but they just clung to me like static-charged plastic. I was racing through the trees and someone was following me. I kept going.

I stopped. My heart was thumping and not just with my sudden exercise. I was standing on the ground, unmoving, as the heavy pulse in my head slowly started to ebb away. The trees rustled above me and then there was a soft thump on the dirt behind me.

"Kankurou, this is stupid! What's gotten into you?" Kiba growled frustratingly as he straitened gingerly from his crouch. "Why don't you just come back to the village? The elders have run out of excuses and the last thing Konoha and Suna need right now is for you to give them one!" As soon as I felt him lay a hand on my arm, I spun around furiously, ripping my arm away screaming.

"Why don't you just quit wasting your time with me and go back to Ino? She can obviously offer you more than I can." I growled frustratingly. My palms were sweaty and I could feel a tight clench in my chest and I felt like I had only just made it tighter. Due to stupid, impulsive behavior I had just laid out all the facts on the table. He wouldn't be able to disavow it and I wasn't even sure if that was a bad thing or not. I just wanted it all to be over.

"What?" he asked, bewildered. Clearly I'd caught him off guard. "You think I _like_ Ino? I don't like _her_! Even if I was into girls, she would _so_ not be my type! Ugh!"

That caught _me_ off guard. He didn't even look phased at what it was that he had just said. Like it didn't bother him and he was sick of holding it in.

"Not your type?... not into… not her…" I mumbled to myself, trying to come up with a coherent and normal reply. "Then, who are you interested in?" amazingly I almost sounded uninterested.

"Why do you even care?" Kiba asked, wide eyed and frustrated, avoiding an answer. It was then that I realized how much I needed to hear him say it. How much I wanted to stop running around in circles, avoiding the central point that was obviously so appealing. I took a step closer to him and he backed up into a tree, clearly not realizing it was so close behind him. My voice came out husky, though I'm sure it sounded more nervous.

"I think you know the answer to that question… Kiba," I whispered as my gaze drifted over his face and up into his alert eyes. I could almost see his nose twitch as he smelt the truth from me. Just when I thought he was too tongue tied to answer, his voice came out just as husky as mine.

"Then I think you know the answer to your own question."

My breath almost caught as he held my gaze, and I saw too many emotions to count in his eyes at that one moment. Almost as a reflex, my own eyes flicked down to his lips and back up to his eyes. It was so quick, but already I could see that a new thought was present on Kiba's face. That's when I knew that there was no going back.

Our eyes closed in sync as I leaned towards him and as soon as I covered his mouth with my lips, a fireless burn erupted across my skin from the contact. I took a deep breath in through my nose when he slid his arms up around my neck and pulled me closer. I tightened my grip around his middle, not quite remembering when I had put my arms there.

It was hot, and it was breathless, and for a minute I thought I could smell a hint of the passion that must be completely sweaty and musky and overwhelming for Kiba. I don't remember when his lips parted or when I first tasted his mouth, nor do I remember who was where or when. I just remember heat and fire – and that if we hadn't been cursed with the need of oxygen, I never would have stopped.

* * *

_\(n_n)/ Will update by the weekend._


	7. Deviant Love

**KIBA - Friday**

**7 - Deviant Love**

_Deviant - markedly different from an accepted norm_

_Love - a strong positive emotion of regard and affection; a deep feeling of sexual desire and attraction_

As if on cue, as soon as Kankurou disappeared into the deli, Ino started strutting towards me. I sighed as I finished up my sandwich and turned to her with an uncaring look on my face.

"What is it this time, Ino?" I huffed. "Still convinced you know everything?" She sighed and straddled the bench next to me.

"Yes," she smiled, and I rolled my eyes disbelievingly. "Look," she began, "I know I can get overbearing some times, and I'm sorry that I tried to run your love life for you."

"Oh, um," I stumbled. "You're actually apologizing?" She gave me a look that said 'come on really?'

"Am I not allowed to apologize to a friend?" she batted her eyelashes.

"No. Seriously, what's up?" I pried.

She huffed. "Okay, truth is, Hinata's _not_ into you." She paused for emphasis. "At _all_."

"Okay," I said with a 'so what' look.

"And a little birdy may or may not have indirectly implied that you were head over heels for someone else."

"Who said that?" I asked way too quickly, suddenly very self-conscious.

"No one," she said. "I guessed by putting two and two together and you just proved me right with your defensive reaction."

"Uh huh?" I snorted, looking away from her. She looked at me expectantly but I only glanced at her then away again so she continued.

"Well, according to my excellent observational skills, my presence seems to bother you most when the Suna guy is with you." I felt my face heat up and tried not to shift nervously. "And I'm willing to bet he's in the deli right now with how you're acting." I stayed perfectly still and said nothing. "I'm not going to tell anyone." I still said nothing. "I don't have a problem with it either if that's what you're worried about," she said, giggling at my reaction. "Your secret is safe with me. You should be with the person that you care about – the one that makes you tick; clans and gender aside." I refused to look at her and she scooted right up close. "You know," she said quietly with a huge grin. "I actually think you two are adorable together."

I watched her unblinkingly from the corner of my eye and slowly my barriers started to fall away. It irritated me that she was hitting right on the mark but I resigned myself to the facts. And the facts were that she agreed with me on the most important issue – clans and gender _shouldn't_ matter. My scowl pulled back into a cheeky grin and I turned to look at her.

"I know right?" I whispered back and she laughed, shoving me playfully. She leaned in close so she could keep her voice low from passing strangers.

"So have you guys kissed yet?" She waggled her eyebrows at me. I felt my face go beet red instantly, feeling like a total girl. But before I had a chance to correct her, we were interrupted by the deli door being ripped open and a black blur flying down the street.

"Huh? Kankurou? Kankurou!" I was suddenly yelling and jumping to my feet.

"Uh oh," Ino muttered. "That couldn't have looked good."

"Kankurou!" I kept yelling, chasing after him. "Come back! Where are you going? Hey! Kankurou!" He was refusing to acknowledge me and it was pissing me off. When he raced through the village entrance I knew we were in trouble. This would _not_ look good on the day of a treaty signing and the elders would undoubtedly jump on it. I tried calling to him again but there was no answer.

Just as I was sure he was planning to run all the way home, he stopped. I jumped down from the trees above, landing behind him.

"Kankurou! This is stupid! What's gotten into you?" I growled, straitening from my crouch, ready to rip his head off. "Why don't you just come back to the village?" I reached out to put a hand on his arm. "The elders have run out of excuses and the last thing Konoha and Suna need right now is for you to give them one!"

"Why don't you just quit wasting your time with me and go back to Ino?" he screamed, turning to face me and ripping his arm away. "She can obviously offer you more than I can!"

I stared at him, not believing what my ears were hearing. "What? You think I _like_ Ino? I don't like _her_. Even if I was into girls, she would _so_ not be my type!" I said in earnest with an angry huff. He was seriously irritating me with his stupidity.

He started mumbling nonsense to himself before looking at me. "Then, who are you interested in?" he asked, daring me to prove him wrong.

"Why do you even care?" I shouted, daring him to prove me right. I so desperately wanted to be right. Suddenly, I was backed against a tree because he had advanced on me and my fight or flight was kicking in. His stare was tense and when he spoke he sounded nervous and desperate and confident all at the same time.

"I think you know the answer to that question… Kiba."

Kiba. He said my name. He said my name, and he said it deliberately and I knew that he was never going to try to deny that he said it this time. I'd been waiting all too long to hear him say it like that. As I tried to categorize all of my emotions so I could make sense of the situation, I realized I wasn't saying anything. I should be saying something – I can tell by the look on Kankurou's face. I should be saying something but I have no idea what to say. I took a silent but deep breath in through my nose and at the same moment I could smell all the truth and all the things he didn't say. I couldn't ignore the musky undertone of attraction, but there was a fainter yet undeniable smell of affection. I grabbed the first coherent thought I could come up with and said it before it could slip away. My voice sounded quiet and moist and completely terrified.

"Then I think you know the answer to your own question, Kankurou." The pounding in my ears became so loud that I didn't even hear myself finish the sentence. My chest felt strained, like there wasn't enough space inside me for my heart to beat and my lungs to breathe at the same time. The burn flashing across my skin was painless but unbearable. And then it all stopped for one brief moment when I saw his eyes dart down and then back up to meet my gaze. I knew what was coming and had no time to react before my body acted on its own and the burn blistered across my body, starting from the contact at my mouth

The kiss was suffocating and rushed. My lips seemed out of my control because I knew my head was trying to process way too many things at once for me to be able to actually move. My hands seemed to figure this out as well and I suddenly realized they were around Kankurou's neck and gripping him tighter to me. My back was no longer against the rough bark of the tree and I swear I would have fallen victim to gravity if Kankurou hadn't been holding onto me.

I couldn't think, but all I did was try. I let my body react the way it had always wanted to when I had forced it to resist. I let the passion drive me because all I could smell was passion. My mind was so overloaded it should have shut down.

And I was able to enjoy every part of it.

Next thing I knew, he was pulling back, panting. We were both panting. And both our hearts were hammering wildly as if trying to get out.

We stood there forever and for no time at all, watching each other, looking at every inch of each other. I had pulled his hood off at some point and it was lying in the dirt, his hair stuck up in random places and his shirt was scrumpled and askew. Worst of all, the face paint around his mouth was ruined. I'm sure I must have looked similarly dishevelled.

When our breathing slowed, Kankurou rested his forehead against mine silently. "We should get back," he breathed.

"Yeah," I agreed begrudgingly. I tried to turn away but he spun me back around at the shoulder and kissed me again. Neither of us wanted to be the one to pull away this time and suddenly I was giggling, leaning back a little. "Okay, seriously…" He kissed me again with a smirk. "We need to go back." He leaned in again, still smirking and I quickly covered his mouth with my hand, pushing him back. I couldn't stop grinning. He waited patiently for me to lower my hand and I slowly snaked it around his neck instead, pulling him close and burying my face in his neck. He tightened his arms around my waist and pressed his face into my hair.

"Kiba, I…" he began, but hesitated.

"Later," I said, pulling back and straightening up. I looked at him and grinned. "You seriously have to fix your makeup."

He let out a big breath and smiled. "You're unrelenting. And you've got some on your face too, you know." My hand reflexively flew up to my mouth and tried to rub away any paint that might be there and Kankurou did the same.

"Am I good?" I asked and he nodded.

"Me?" he asked.

"You missed a spot," I said, licking my thumb and rubbing the last speck away automatically. "There." He picked up his hood and dusted it off before pulling it back on.

"Okay, let's go," he said taking my hand. I gripped his back affectionately and we jumped into the trees. It wasn't until we were within sight of the gate that we let go and put a bit of distance between us.

"Exactly _what_ did you think you were you doing?" Temari was suddenly blocking our path as we got back into the village and we skidded to a halt.

"Oh, uh," Kankurou stuttered, wiping at his mouth again to make sure he'd got it all.

"I was… showing him something," I tried innocently. Temari turned on me and looked me over sceptically.

"I can imagine," she said sarcastically. "Come on, let's go. Hurry up! You two need to get straightened up within the next eight minutes." We followed after her guiltily as she muttered to herself. "Honestly, running through the trees now of all times? Unbelievable."

I was really grateful she was pretending she had no idea what was going on.

I brushed myself off and picked a twig out of my hair when we reached the Hokage's tower, finding that Akamaru was waiting for me. Kankurou quickly pulled some extra paint out of his pocket and popped into the bathroom. He managed to make it back to the office just in time.

I was constantly sharing longing looks with Kankurou and smiling, despite myself. I enjoyed watching the expressions of the elders the whole time, and Tsunade wasn't even subtle in giving them a triumphant smile after everyone necessary had signed. The atmosphere in the room became relaxed and everyone was suddenly friends again instead of business partners. The elders slunk out of the room during the commotion and once they were gone Tsunade called for mine and Shikamaru's attention.

"Well, since this is _finally_ all over and settled, there's no need for the two of you to be escorts anymore. And Gaara-sama, you and your siblings are welcome to stay as long as you like. Please make yourselves at home in our village."

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama," Gaara replied. "But regretfully I won't be able to stay long. I would like to leave early in the morning." I stole a glance at Kankurou and we shared a look: Damn.

"As you wish," Tsunade said. "I'll inform the guards at the gate." They both bowed to each other and then we all took turns excusing ourselves from the office. I was last to do so, but Tsunade requested that I stay behind so she could discuss something with me. I once again spared a glance for Kankurou and I felt helpless.

"I'm sure I'll see you later," he said, and he slipped out after the others. I felt suddenly vulnerable, watching him go. I hoped this wouldn't take long.

"Kiba-kun, excellent work this week," Tsunade began. "I know your charge was being a little difficult at first, but you did well getting through to him. I actually have another quick request of you before you head home. I've written up a few formal letters to be delivered to some of the shinobi in the village who will like to know that the treaty signing went well." I bit my lip to hide a smile when she pulled out a stack of envelopes from her desk drawer because she had obviously written them before the treaty was actually signed.

"Before you start wondering why I'm bothering you with this," she continued. "It's because I want a witness of the signing to do it so that you can confirm it personally if asked. I thought that you would be the most suitable." She grinned at me a little too innocently and I gave her a disapproving look. "Okay fine," she huffed. "All of my messengers have already been sent on similar missions to nearby villages. I figured I would make use of the fact that I already had a capable shinobi in my office and you were closest." I continued to give her an unhappy look.

"Forgive me Tsunade-sama, but you realize that this is practically an F-Rank mission. It's insulting."

"Too bad," she said forcefully. "You've been assigned. Now go before I find something equally degrading for you to do."

"Yes ma'am," I sighed, bowing and exiting her office with Akamaru. I glanced both ways down the hall, hoping to see Kankurou slide out of hiding from somewhere. When he didn't my insides felt heavy and uncomfortable and my mood fell to rock bottom. I groaned at my misfortune and started to mosey down the hall. "Come one, Akamaru. Let's get this over with." He barked and pranced on ahead, telling me to hurry up.

* * *

The mission turned out to be exactly as I had imagined it: absolutely horrible. It was getting dark out by the time I had found everyone and headed for home. The whole time I had been thinking of Kankurou. And the kiss. Mostly the kiss. Because of the length of time that had dragged by as I delivered each letter, paranoia had managed to slip in.

I hadn't seen anything of Kankurou since he'd left that office like it didn't bother him at all. Worst of all, he was leaving early in the morning for Suna. I could hardly believe how things had worked out; for the first time in my life someone had reciprocated my feelings and accepted it. But now we would have to face the hard reality that our loyalties were primarily to our separate villages. It hurt so much to think about that. It didn't look like we would even get a chance to talk about it before he left. Maybe he didn't want to talk about it either. I had no idea how long it would be before we'd be in the same place again. Maybe by the next time we saw each other he wouldn't _want_ to see me anymore.

I let myself and Akamaru into our house and toed off my shoes. "I'm home," I called.

"Hi honey, welcome home," my mom called back from the kitchen. I could smell dinner cooking and Akamaru bounded off to my mom's voice, hoping to beg a few morsels from his favourite chef. "Your friend came looking for you a little while ago," she said as I followed my dog. My chest tightened but she continued before I could ask. "I told him you shouldn't be much longer and said he could wait for you in your room if he wanted to. He seems like a nice boy, why haven't you introduced me to him yet?" she turned to look at me when I didn't answer. "Kiba?" I was already halfway up the stairs.

I took them two at a time and barrelled down the hall to my bedroom. The door was open and Kankurou was sitting on my bed, looking startled by my sudden appearance, but quickly replaced his surprise with a smile. My heart was stuttering and I was almost shaking with anticipation. I could hear Kankurou's heart pounding nervously as he smiled at me. I took a step in and closed my door and then he was on his feet and closing the distance between us. He didn't even hesitate as he put a hand around my neck and pulled me to him. I put my hand on his bent elbow and the other against his chest, but before I knew it the kiss was over.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," I smirked. "It's good to see you too." We laughed and he sat back down on my bed. I sat beside him as close as possible and he casually took my hand into his lap, stroking it with a tenderness I never knew he had. We sat there for a while, staring at our hands instead of each other, feeling rather forlorn. I rested my head on his shoulder, but other than that we didn't move.

"I don't want to go," he finally whispered, causing a shiver to race up my spine.

"Do you have to?" I asked softly.

"Yeah," he exhaled. "Gaara has stuff he needs Tem and me to do as soon as we get back. The official ceremony where he invests the title of Kazekage is in four days." He paused. "I have to be there. He's my brother."

"I know," I said. He let go of my hand and moved his arm up around my shoulder. "I—"

"Dinner's ready!" My mom called from downstairs, cutting me off. I sat up straight and leaned away from Kankurou so I could look at him.

"Hungry?" I asked.

"Starved. Last thing I ate were those sandwiches," he grinned.

"Yeah me too," I chuckled, standing up and pulling him along by the hand. As I opened my door and tried to leave he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me against his chest. I had a silly smile on my face as he took in the scent of my hair and I was just as jumpy as he was when my sister walked passed us on her way downstairs.

"Better not keep mom waiting," she said without even glancing at us.

"Your sister?" Kankurou asked.

"Yeah, don't worry," I said, stepping out of his embrace and into the hallway. "She won't tell."

When we got into the kitchen, Akamaru and the other dogs were already crowded around their food bowls. Hana looked up at Kankurou as if she hadn't known he was in the house.

"Who're you?" she asked. Her feigned ignorance would have amused me but I could tell she was doing it to irritate.

"Be nice, Hana," our mom chided. "That's Kankurou-kun, Kiba's friend from Suna."

"Really?" Hana asked with a knowing smile on her face as Kankurou and I sat across from each other at the table. "Who would have guessed: a sand and leaf ninja… friends."

I gave her a look to tell her to quit it and she looked away innocently. My mom put the last few things on the table and sat down as well. We all loaded our plates and I felt tense as I waited for the onslaught of questions from my mother.

"So how long have you two known each other?" There it was.

"We met during our first chuunin exam, mom," I said with a bit of a warning on the word 'mom'.

"That's funny, I don't remember you mentioning him before," she continued.

"Technically, we didn't really meet until that time I saved your life from those crazy twins," Kankurou inserted, and I threw him a deadly look for encouraging my mom.

"Oh, so that was you?" my mom asked, surprised and suddenly even more interested. "Well I suppose I'll have to thank you then. I was so worried when I heard what happened him. Kiba has a habit of getting ahead of himself—"

'Mom!" I hissed. I saw Kankurou shove some food into his mouth to hide his smirk.

"Right, sorry," she said, changing the subject. "So what brings you to Suna this time around?"

"Business," he said after swallowing his mouthful. "The new Kazekage was signing a new treaty with Tsunade-sama. I was an ambassador of sorts."

"Oh, that business," my mother said, nodding. "It's all settled then?" Kankurou nodded during his next mouthful. "How long will you be staying then?"

"He has to go back tomorrow morning," I said, trying to save him from the onrush of questions. "He was here all week. I was his escort."

"So that's what you've been doing," my mom said as if she'd just figured something out. She turned back to Kankurou with a smile and he succeeding in looking innocent. "Well since you'll be going back in the morning and I imagine you two young men don't get to see each other very often, you're welcome to stay the night." My stomach did a somersault when Kankurou looked at me to see if it was okay.

"So they can stay up all night talking before his long journey home?" Hana interjected, earning a foul look from me. She had put the slightest emphasis on the word 'talking'.

"Oh that's alright," my mom said between morsels. "You're only young once."

"I don't want to impose anymore than I already have," Kankurou said formally and I prayed my mom would insist.

"No, I insist," my mom said and I mentally relaxed. "It's no trouble at all."

"Thank you," Kankurou nodded respectfully to her. "I appreciate it." They smiled and Kankurou turned to look at me, and I smiled too. Even Hana looked like she was trying to hide a grin, despite herself.

When we finished our meal, we excused ourselves from the table and headed back upstairs with Akamaru. My dog jumped up onto the end up my bed and closed his eyes for a nap. I closed my door behind me and then went to my closet and pulled something off of the top shelf, bringing it back over to where Kankurou had sat on my bed.

"Checkers?" he chuckled.

"Yes, checkers," I smiled, bending one leg beneath me as I sat down. "You still owe me a rematch."

"Okay, it's your funeral," he said with a mischievous smile, turning and pulling his legs up to face me.

"We'll see whose funeral it is," I bit back, smiling as well. As we set up the game, Akamaru opened an eye and gave us a disinterested look before climbing off the bed and curling up at the foot I had hanging over the edge instead. We got into the game quickly and Kankurou almost instantly gave me a free jump.

"Hey, no letting me win!" I argued. "I want to beat your ass fair and square."

"Okay then," he said, jumping me back twice. I scowled at him but it only made his smile wider. After he had taken out half my pieces and already had a king – and I was still trying to get through his defending lines – I was getting worried. I pulled up both my legs and crossed them and had my tongue stuck out in concentration as I tried to think of an effective next move. I found one, but after my following turn, he jumped another of my pieces. I harrumphed childishly and pouted.

"I warned you," he laughed. At that, I picked up his king pieces and chucked them at his laughing face. He stopped mid-snicker with a gasp, but quickly regained himself and chucked a handful back. I reach for the board to grab more, but he slapped it out of the way and onto the floor, lunging at me and crushing me into the bed as he kissed me. Our game dismissed and instantly forgotten, we were soon panting with our shirts lying on the floor. Akamaru had huffed indignantly at one point but was quiet after that.

We lay there, breathing heavily and staring at each other, Kankurou holding himself up with his elbows. He stroked my cheek with the back of his hand absentmindedly.

"I didn't know I could feel this way," he breathed.

"I wasn't sure if you ever would either," I panted, smiling.

"So you've been into me for a while?" he asked with a cocky grin.

"Shut up," I said. "I just thought you were hot, that's all."

"You did, did you?" the smile not disappearing.

"Obviously," I said, indicating to our bare chests and current predicament, pushing our swollen crotches together as well for added effect.

"Yeah," he chuckled, breathing raggedly. "Good point." We continued to look at each other and our smiles slipped away. He leaned in and kissed me on the cheek and then shuffled a bit to rest his head by my shoulder, half on top of me and half off. "I so don't want to leave tomorrow."

I stared at the ceiling with no idea what to say. Finally, I shifted so that I was facing him. His arm was resting on my waist and I held my head up with my hand. I watched him longingly, wishing everything could be less complicated. I knew he had to leave and I didn't want someone coming between us during our time apart. I also didn't want to bring it up, but I wanted him all to myself. Thinking of a way to put the idea into words, I said it before I could chicken out.

"There's no one else…" I whispered, my heart racing as I left the statement hanging open.

"What?" he smiled. "You think I have someone waiting for me back in Suna?" I didn't answer. "You're adorable when you're jealous." He paused and I still didn't answer. I could hear his heart speed up as he tried to speak. "There's no one else…" he barely whispered back. I breathed carefully and as he watched me he looked liked he had suddenly remembered something. "Speaking of jealous, what exactly was going on with Ino?"

"Oh that," I said as if it were troublesome. It _was_ troublesome. I turned onto my back as I spoke. "She was actually trying to set me up with Hinata."

"Hinata? Really?" he asked in amusement.

"Yeah, I know right?" Anyway she finally realized I wasn't going for it and the wheels in her head started turning a bit _too_ much." I paused. "Today, when you saw us talking… She was actually in the middle of grilling me about you. She'd figured it out and was saying stuff like how we looked 'cute' together," I laughed nervously.

"Oh yeah?" Kankurou teased, pulling me around to face him again. "Is that what it was?"

"Yeah Mr. Jealousy, that's exactly what it was. So you can stop worrying."

"I'm not worried," he said, kissing my briefly. "Not anymore."

* * *

**Saturday**

I woke up in the morning reluctantly to an alarm, trying to fall back into the dream where Kankurou was in my bed with me. When someone else reached over and hit the alarm off with a groan, I slid my arms around him and held him tightly, abruptly waking up in full. He squeezed me back and then pulled away to look at me.

"Good morning," he whispered with a smile. I was smiling as well before I realized what that meant and I grimaced.

"No it's not."

His smile wavered and he looked at me helplessly. "I'll come back as soon as I can."

"I know you will," I sighed. "I really hope that's sooner than later."

"Me too," he whispered, kissing me softly. "I'm really glad I got stuck with you all week."

My mouth curved up into a relentless smile as I looked at him with tired eyes. "Me too," I whispered.

Akamaru grunted softly from beside the bed, not wanting to be left out.

"Heh, you're the one that chose to abandon me, remember?" I teased my dog. He snuffed.

Kankurou sat up with a groan and stretched. I wasn't even subtle this time as I stared at his flexing muscles. He pretended not to notice, but smiled anyway, and climbed over me to get off the bed. He picked his crumpled shirt up off my floor and tried to fluff it out. Unsuccessful, he draped it on the end of my bed. "Mind if I shower?" he asked.

"No, go ahead," I yawned, sitting up. "There are some extra towels on the top shelf in the bathroom. Help yourself."

"Thanks," he muttered, opening my door quietly and tiptoeing down the hall to the bathroom. I slid to the edge of my bed, careful not to step on Akamaru, and scratch his head. He sniffed happily and I stood up, walking over to my door and closing it softly. I then stepped out of my boxers and tossed them into the hamper, grabbing a fresh pair out of a drawer. I picked up my shirt and shorts from the night before and tossed them into the hamper as well before choosing new ones from my closet. I intended on going right back to sleep after seeing Kankurou off so I didn't bother too much with my appearance.

He came back to my room in his boxers and put the rest of his clothes back on. "I need to go back to the apartment and get my stuff; namely a fresh set of clothes," he said, and I agreed. We left quickly, silent the whole way there. I waited outside with Akamaru when he went in to face his siblings. After about ten minutes, Gaara strolled out of the building without looking at me leaning against the wall. Temari came next and gave me a cheeky smile and a wink, which surprised me because I expected her to be irritated with me. But I realized why when Shikamaru exited next in a wrinkled set of clothes.

Kankurou was last to emerge and we followed after the others silently. I saw Temari take Shikamaru's hand and I automatically glanced down at where mine and Kankurou's were. We were walking closely, but neither of us had taken the others hand. I looked at him and he smiled and then I glanced around. It was so early that the sun wasn't even up yet, just like the day he'd arrived. But today the sky was clear. The streets were empty and I also kind of didn't care anymore, so I slid my fingers between Kankurou's.

When we reached the gate, I hesitated and Kankurou stopped when my hand held him back. He turned and looked at me hopelessly. "I can't stay."

"I know," I whispered. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Shikamaru and Temari is a similar situation, only a lot less desolate. Anyone watching would think they were only saying goodbye for a few days. Gaara stood nearer the gate with his back turned. Kankurou turned back to me and put his hand at the base of my head, stroking my cheek with his thumb. He leaned down and kissed me one last time – it was bittersweet and fierce and slow. We broke away together and he kissed me on the forehead.

"It's only temporary," he said

"I know," I exhaled.

"I'll see you again soon," he said.

"I know," I breathed again.

"I'll miss you," he whispered.

"I know," I said quietly and smiled. And then he turned and joined his siblings.

And then he was gone.

* * *

_An epilogue will be up soon, and then their journey will come to a close._


	8. Epilogue – Unanticipated Convergence

_Here's to the final chapter! Don't forget to let me know what you think. S2  
_

**

* * *

Epilogue – Unanticipated Convergence**  
_Unanticipated – happening without warning  
Convergence – the occurrence of two or more things coming together_

As the last few minutes of the Kazekage ceremony slithered by, I started to go insane with impatience. It took all my restraint not to prance up and down with anxiety. It wasn't that it was taking longer than usual or that I had to pee or anything like that. It was because Gaara had promised me that I could take about a week and a half off in which I could go to Konoha, so long as I delivered the message personally that the Kazekage's position was official now. I had only just gotten back in Suna last night, but after three days on the road moving farther and farther away from where I wanted to be, it made my insides ache frustratingly.

As the events before me squeezed to an agonizingly slow close, I hardly even stuck around to give my obligatory congratulations. I made it back to my room in no time at all and grabbed my scrolls and pack, but when I went to leave there was a messenger blocking my path.

"Do you need something?" I tried to smile politely but I think I may have failed.

"Yes Kankurou-sama," he said, pulling out a clipboard. "I just need you to sign these as a witness to your brother's – I mean the Kazekage's – promotion in rank."

"Is that what you're calling it?" I muttered rhetorically and took the clipboard, signing the marked locations. "Can I go now?" The guy did a nod-and-bow thing as he moved to the side and I rushed passed him.

I chose to use the rooftops to get to the gates faster, stealing myself from letting things distract me in the streets below. When there were no more roofs for me to jump to, I landed softly on the ground and rushed up to the gate guards. I came to a hesitant stop though when I saw who was already talking to them.

"Kankurou?" Temari asked, turning to look at me. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm going to Konoha to deliver the message of the Kazekage's successful 'promotion in rank'," I squinted, using the messengers term.

"That's what I'm doing," Temari squinted back.

"Since when? Gaara gave me this mission before we even got back yesterday," I argued.

"Gaara gave me the mission a few minutes ago," Temari answered, looking startled. "He was asking for you in his office. I thought someone else would have found you already."

"This is bullshit!" I hissed. "You're sure that's what he said?"

"Kankurou-sama!" Before my sister could answer I heard my name being call from behind. I cursed under my breath. "Kankurou-sama! Good. You haven't left yet. Kazekage-sama—"

"Yeah, yeah," I growled, turning slowly with my gaze locked on my sister until the last minute. "In his office. Whatever." And then I rushed angrily back to the roofs and made a beeline for the Kazekage tower, hoping that I could get this sorted out quickly so I could catch up with my sister.

I slowed in the hallway leading to the office to try to calm my anger before I reached it. I paused with my hand on the handle, deciding if I wanted to barge in there screaming my frustration or step in quietly and hear my brother out. I chose the former and ripped the door open but hardly got one foot in the door before my body and mind shut down for a brief second as I realized someone else was already in there.

I noticed the hair at first – that cinnamon smelling, scruffy brown hair. I didn't believe my eyes for a second until I saw the white nindog at the ninja's feet. My heart leapt into my throat as both the ninja and his dog seemed to turn in slow motion at the sound of my intrusion.

"Kiba?" I whispered. My heart was hammering. He was looking at me with a silly grin on his face and Akamaru barked playfully. I had a million questions trying to force their way out of my head and I was ready to rush over to him and grab his lips thirstily with my own. What stopped me was the voice reminding me that my brother was also in the room.

"Oh, Kankurou, you made it. Good," Gaara said, ignoring the tension in the room. "I was afraid you'd left already."

"What's going on?" I asked, still standing by the open door.

"Forgive me," Gaara started. "But I'm afraid you'll have to postpone your vacation a little while longer. I need an escort for this ninja from Konoha and no one else is available." He said it all with a serious face that said he was just doing what he needed to as Kazekage. "I hope it isn't too much of an inconvenience."

"Stuck with the mutt again, huh?" I smirked. "I suppose I can handle it." Kiba continued smiling as he finally looked back at the Kazekage.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Kazekage-sama," he said with a bow.

"I assume you can figure out some sleeping arrangements for him on your own?" Gaara asked. It wasn't really a question.

"I'll see what I can do," I sighed as if it were a chore.

"Then you're dismissed."

Kiba and his dog trotted over to the door, which I held open for them and he winked at me on his way through. I looked back at my brother who was reading something in his hand nonchalantly, but the corners of his mouth definitely twitched upwards under my gaze. I smiled and nodded as if to thank him and closed the door behind me.

Before I even had a chance to make sure no one was around, Kiba's arms were around me and he was kissing me fervently. I breathed him in and was ready to enjoy it but then I remembered where we were. I pulled away and looked at him.

"Wha—How? Why?" I asked, smiling childishly.

"Pretty much as soon as you left I was summoned to the Hokage's office," he explained, smiling as well. "She said that Suna needed an ambassador from Konoha to attend the Kazekage's ceremony. Apparently, there was a special request that it be me."

"You were there?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yeah," he chuckled. "You looked so uncomfortable and anxious. I'm not surprised you didn't notice me. I was a little worried though when you took off so quickly. I was ready to chase after you myself but I was summoned by your brother."

I sighed in relief and wrapped my arms tightly around him, taking in the familiar scent of his hair. "I'm so happy you're here." He accepted my affection silently, gripping me just as tightly.

"So apparently you're in charge of my sleeping arrangements," Kiba teased, eventually pulling away.

'Yes, apparently," I agreed, poking him in the side, causing him to flinch. I made a mental note to use that to my advantage later. "Right this way," I gestured for him to follow me.

I was trying really hard not to smile while he walked beside me but my grin was ruthless. He seemed to be having the same problem. A few other people were around as I led him around through the halls, but they paid us little attention. A few inclined their heads respectfully towards me but none of them seemed to notice how close I kept myself to Kiba. When we reached the wing where mine and my siblings' rooms were, I slid my fingers around Kiba's. No one else would be up here.

I cracked open my door and gave Kiba a side-long smirk, and then quickly pulled him in after me and shut the door. I had hardly dropped my scrolls and pack and clicked the lock before he was attacking me, wrestling me into my room and knocking me over. I growled and flung the smaller ninja over and under me, pinning him to the ground. It all happened in less than ten seconds, and then that cheeky smile was grinning up at me.

"What exactly did you hope to accomplish by that?" I exhaled.

He didn't answer my question and I didn't wait for him to before my hormones took over and I was kissing him. I rushed it and I was fierce. I dug my hands into his hair and he took advantage of my distraction and attempted to roll me onto my back and next thing I knew we were tumbling around on my floor and our hands were searching and restless. When he reached around my neck and dug his nails into the top of my back I inhaled sharply and pulled back. He was smiling mischievously at me and we were both dishevelled and hot. My skin was on fire, in some places more than others.

"Wait," I suddenly said. "Why didn't Gaara tell me you were coming? He led me to think that I was going to Konoha until the last second."

"You just weren't told because Gaara didn't want you to get distracted or something like that," Kiba said, still showing off his fangs.

"Che. Distracted, huh?" I gloated. "You could never distract me."

"No?" he asked playfully, reaching up again to scratch his nails along the back of my neck. I shivered violently and jerked away. At the triumphant smile on his face, I stood up quickly with my fingers outstretched, forcing him to follow me. "Hey," he protested at the familiar tingle of my chakra strings. I silenced him with a kiss and pushed him backwards until the back of his knees hit my bed and he fell back onto it.

I fell with him until I was hovering over him slightly, breathing frantically. "How long are you here for?"

"At least until Sunday I think," he said thoughtfully. "I'm not really sure what for but I'm pretty sure Gaara was just making shit up." He shrugged.

"That's really not like him," I muttered. "I bet Tem had a lot to do with it." I thought of how she had acted at the village entrance: innocent but unnecessarily concerned.

"Most likely," he said. "She was just leaving the Kazekage's office as I arrived and she said something like 'Oh, thank god you're here'."

"She would," I mumbled, rolling my eyes and rolling off of Kiba at the same time. I lay on my back next to him and we stared up at the ceiling for a while. He took my hand and he sighed.

"I feel like I would be going insane by now if I was still stuck in Konoha without you. I hate not knowing how you are and what you're thinking. We got lucky this time but eventually it's going to get really difficult to see each other. I—I'm not sure… I feel so vulnerable when you're not around. I don't have any form of reassurance. I'm just overrun with a copious amount of anxiety." He paused and I waited. "I'm not asking to tell the world, or anyone for that matter, but I want to be able to say you're mine."

"Did you rehearse that?" I teased and he elbowed me playfully.

"Asshole," he grumbled, but he was smiling. I took a deep breath and sat up. He looked up at me as I watched him and when I started speaking, he sat up too.

"I've felt useless not having you around the past few days," I murmured, "like I've misplaced something important." My heart was erratic as Kiba stared at me unblinkingly. I swallowed. "I'm not ready to tell anyone either. And even though I know certain people have figured it out, I don't like talking about it too openly. This whole thing is new to me and I need some time to figure out all the possible implications it will cause for our villages – and for Gaara especially – before I claim you in front of the world. But…" I paused and stared at our joined hands before whispering the rest. "I want to be with you. I want to say you're mine too."

The grin that spread across Kiba's face and the way he tried to hide it at first was so adorable that my heart melted at the disgusting cuteness of it all. And it made everything worth it.

"Then I'm yours," he smiled and leaned in to kiss me softly. I kissed him back arduously and he once again reached around my neck and scrapped his nails lightly over my skin. I pushed him back and down agressively without breaking our kiss, senselessly running my hands any and everywhere. He snuck his hands beneath my shirt at some point and was driving me crazy as he grazed his nails all over my back. It was all I could do to contain myself.

We lost ourselves in each other, leaving only a small part of my mind free to understand that Kiba _would_ be around in Suna _a lot_ in the upcoming months – and thanks to my brother of all people. My mind and body were overwhelmed with emotions as I touched every reachable part of Kiba's body and whispered in his ear. He was driving me crazy with his nails that were all up in my hair and we only paused briefly to catch our breaths before we turned our backs on the world and let passion take over.

* * *

_FIN_


End file.
